CAB returns to stir NE cauldron

Nagaland shutdown from 6 pm Tuesday to 12 noon Wednesday; exemptions for educational institutions and movement of vehicles [caption id="attachment_283443" align="alignnone" width="565"] Activists stage a protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Guwahati on Monday. (PTI)[/caption] Dimapur, Nov. 18 (EMN): To protest the introduction of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, various Naga organisations, under the aegis of North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP), have announced an 18-hour shutdown of Nagaland. ‘An emergency meeting of Kohima-based tribe hohos and civil organisations was held at Red Cross Complex, Kohima on November 18, in the wake of the government of India’s adamant stand to introduce the most controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the current Winter session of Parliament and the meeting unanimously decided to extend full cooperation to the NEFIP and JCPI, Nagaland call for total Nagaland shutdown beginning from 6 pm of  November 19 to 12 noon of November 20,’ informed a press release from the NEFIP on Monday. “This bandh is called in protest against the callous attitude of the GOI against the north-eastern region, and Nagaland in particular, despite our continuous protest against the monster bill (CAB, 2016),” it read. The protestors have appealed to all sections of the society ‘to rise to the occasion and stand for our rights and reject the Bill’. The people’s “unflinching support towards the call for total bandh” will send a strong message to the government of India not to isolate minority NE groups. The JCPI also sent a separate statement announcing the bandh. It appealed to the people to extend full cooperation and “bear with the inconveniences by suspending all normal activities and engagements to give a collective message to the government of India”. All shops and business establishments have been requested to voluntarily pull their shutters down as a sign of protest. However, there will be no restrictions on vehicular movement, and educational institutions have been exempted from the purview of the bandh. Will go to any extent—NSF The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), while forwarding the Neso memorandum to the governor of Nagaland, asserted that the issue of CAB is “very dear” to the federation. “We must apprise Your Excellency that alongside the Neso, the federation shall go to any extent to see that the CAB shall not bring any negative impact upon the Nagas in general,” it asserted and appealed to the governor to “give the deserved regard” to the Neso letters.  

NE students' union takes to street

Guwahati, Nov. 18 (IANS): Student unions belonging to northeastern states on Monday staged protest rallies against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is likely to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. The North East Students' Organisation (Neso) called for the agitation on Monday in all the northeastern states. Hundreds of students belonging to different tribes and communities took part in protest rallies organised in different state capitals on Monday. In Assam capital Guwahati, All Assam Students Union (AASU) organised the protest rally from the union's headquarters to the Raj Bhavan shouting slogans and showing placards with messages written against the CAB. "The BJP-led government at the Centre is planning to implement the CAB one more time and we are going to oppose this. Assam and other northeastern states had taken a lot of burden of illegal foreigners in the past. But not anymore, we'll not let anyone make Assam and the northeastrn states as dumping ground for illegal foreigners," said AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya. The organisations also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah through the Raj Bhavan. "We are submitting this memorandum to express our dismay and displeasure that the government of India has again intended to introduce the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament," said NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa. "Your government is again planning to bring back the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in this session of Parliament to which we as indigenous people of the Northeast are vehemently opposed. In this regard, we would like to highlight that the entire Northeast region is infested with foreigners from the erstwhile East Pakistan and now, Bangladesh. They have infiltrated into and polluted every aspect of our social life," he said. He said politicians have supported illegal foreigners, threatening the identity of the indigenous people of the region. "It may also be reminded that many states of the Northeast have taken the load of Hindu refugees who have migrated due to the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 and this Citizen (Amendment) Bill is again an attempt to impose the burden of the post-1971 Hindu Bangladeshis in the entire Northeast region which is not justified," he said. Jyrwa said that Neso fully supported signing of the Assam Accord by the All Assam Students' Union setting March 25, 1971, as the cut-off year for detection and deportation of the foreigners from Assam. "We oppose the objective of the Bill and it should not be adopted by Parliament," he added.