NEW DELHI: As violence spiralled across the North East, three MPs from Meghalaya — Agatha Sangma, Vincent H Pala and Wansuk Syiem — on Friday urged the Prime Minister to immediately intervene and declare whole of Meghalaya and in fact the entire Northeastern region from the ambit of the highly controversial Act.
Agatha in her letter to Narendra Modi said the CAB in its new format has tried to address several concerns.
Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur have been excluded from CAB through inner line permits and also the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, she said.
“But the narrative that is being given out is that the BJP-led government is anti North East and the efforts made through long hours of consultations are going futile.” Agatha said.
She said the regions that have not received exemption such as Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura are vehemently opposing the Act and the people expect these states to be excluded, she said. Pala in his letter said that the bill has been passed against the will and aspirations of the people of the North East and their opposition to the same is being expressed through numerous protests in the region.
The Act exempts from its ambit the regions covered under the Sixth Schedule and in the case of Meghalaya, the exemption leaves out parts of Shillong which is essentially a tribal inhabited area.
The Shillong MP quoted a past Supreme Court judgment which had made it clear that Shillong is primarily a tribal area but has been included within the territory of the Shillong Municipal Board for the purpose of Municipal administration only.
“In the light of this and the ongoing law and order breakdown in the region, I request you to urgently extend the exemption from the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 to all regions of Meghalaya, “he said.
Wansuk raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha where her party drew the attention of the government not only about the widespread violence but also communication shutdown in Shillong. She also urged the Centre to rush additional forces since the situation is going from bad to worse.
Several opposition parties have also gone to Supreme Court challenging the citizenship act which is based on religion.
