Dimapur, May 26 (EMN): The president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) K Therie on Sunday said that the party had raised the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections as “in our political analysis, we did not see we are safe under CAB.”
In a statement issued to the press, Therie stated that the CAB has been “a vote bank politics and the BJP has reaped its benefits” in the recently concluded general elections.
“While the CAB 2016 plans to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 thus granting legal status to the illegals (sic), Himanta Biswa Sarma, the alleged architect of the Bill admitted that there are more than eight lakh Hindu Bengalis in Assam, the actual numbers could be larger, who would be granted citizenship. Therefore, the number 31,313 quoted as reference for the number of people who would benefit from CAB 2016, is utterly misguiding.
“What should also not be forgotten is the PDA government had even adopted a resolution to oppose the Bill. However, now that the winds have changed at the Centre, an attempt is being made to rebrand and change the narrative of the Bill in the context of the Nagas to please New Delhi. However, the issue if not handled with wisdom could be the start to an end of the Nagas and our indigenous status,” read the statement.
He stated that the NPCC welcomes an open debate on the issue, in the presence of all political parties, civil societies and legal luminaries; and once and for all, take a consensus stand so that the central government would leave out Nagaland from the purview of the Bill “as there is no relation between CAB and Art 371(A).”
