CAB: Northeast forum finds Amit Shah’s assurances ‘empty’

Dimapur, Sep. 11 (EMN): The North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP) has stated that it strongly oppose the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2016 in its present form, terming it as “an attempt to legitimise the defaulters and is prima facie unconstitutional and against Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution and corrupting the basic concept of Secularism.”

While welcoming the statement of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah at the fourth conclave of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) that CAB will not be in conflict with the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and Article 371, the forum stated through a press release that it is against the bill.

The NEFIP stated that it found the Union Minister’s assurance to remove all illegal migrants from the entire region “empty, misleading and double standard since the very concept of CAB is an attempt to naturalise citizenship of illegal immigrants in the region.”

“It will be totally incorrect to believe that the people of the Northeast do not know what will benefit them or not and such type of imposition of bio power despite the opposition to it is nothing but a hangover of the colonial mindset and interior colonisation to enforce a strict Demographic hierarchy through suppressing the indigenous people of this Region, which will further distance them from the mainstream,” read the statement.

It also appealed to the leadership at the centre “not to take the North East Indigenous people for a ride with rhetoric assurances but to address our concerns with all seriousness and with pragmatic approach.”