Guwahati, Feb 14 (PTI): The Northeast region is for its indigenous people and not for Bangladeshis, asserted NESO and AASU Chief Advisor Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya, who demanded that the three orders pertaining to foreigners issued in 2015 be scrapped.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Bhattacharya claimed, "the black cloud over the existence of the people of the north east region is still there as the orders granting protection to Bangladeshis are still active".
"Citizenship (Amendment) Order, 2015, Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules 2015 and granting of long term visa to Bangladeshi Hindus are still there, they have to be scrapped", stated the North East Students Organisation (NESO) leader.
"Yesterday's victory is due to the north east peoples' united unflinching fight against the CAB. It proved that the north east people don't get anything without agitation. If there was no widespread agitation in the region along with support of the various political parties across India, then the Bill would have not been stopped from being placed in the rajya sabha", he claimed.
"We want to give a strong warning to the government of india....don't play with the future of the indigenous people here. Do not make that mistake. through the bill the government pushed the people of northeast mentally very far", he stated.
"The BJP through Government of India inflicted mental torture on the people of northeast forcing them to take bullets in Tripura, police beatings in Assam and women to sleep on the streets in Manipur. Not listening to the voice of the people, the government brought the bill and the anti-cab movement started", Bhattacharya averred.
"By imposing the bill the government wanted to take away our identity, language, culture and heritage. Even the NRC which will identify the illegal Bangladeshis in Assam", he charged the administration.
"We strongly warn the Government of India that don't polarise Assam and the northeast on lines of religion as the culture here is not religion centric. There is no place for communal forces or fundamentalists in Assam. We resist such moves.
We don't want a second Tripura or Jammu and Kashmir where the indigenous people have become minorities. Northeast is for its indigenous people and not for Bangladeshis", asserted the NESO leader.
On the CAB not being tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Bhattacharya said "it is peoples victory. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma took the leadership to mobilise opinion nationally with other political parties against the bill."
All Assam Students Union (AASU) president Dipanka Nath and general secretary Luringjyoti Gogoi also speaking said the movement has to continue to prevent the government from attempting to bring an ordinance in the lines of cab to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan without documents.
Students leaders of the seven north-eastern states whose oganisations are constituents of NESO, expressing similar sentiments thanked Chief Ministers Bihar Nitish Kumar his counterparts in Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh-- Zoramthanga, N Biren Singh and Pema Khandu respectively for opposing the bill. They also thanked various other political parties, organisations, intellectuals, media, artistes and others for agitating against the bill.
