Dimapur, Dec. 1 (EMN): Anticipating ‘devastating impact’ on the life of indigenous people in the event the Citizenship Amendment Bill is approved by the Parliament, the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) urged upon the state government to immediately register its protest against the Bill before the joint parliamentary panel finalises its recommendations.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to grant citizenship to people from minority communities of Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after 6 years of living in India even if they do not possess any proper document.
In other words, when the bill is passed successfully in the Parliament, the people from the mentioned communities living in the three neighbouring countries can come and settle anywhere in India even without having valid document that proves one’s identity.
The NTC, in a press statement felt that such blanket immunity granted to foreigners would be at the expense of the bona fide citizens of the country. While terming the Bill as ‘subjective and communal’ in nature, the NTC stated that it has earlier objected to the Bill ‘as it stands for the interest of a particular religious group in the context of plural and secular state.’
It stated that the approval of the Bill would have immense ramifications on a small state like Nagaland as the existing protective laws may not resist the new law to be enacted.
NTC stated that the Parliament is expected to pass the Bill during winter session scheduled for December. It cautioned that acceptance of the Bill would be suicidal for the state in the long run.
Supporting its contention against the Bill, the council cited the example of Meghalaya and Mizoram state assemblies which had passed resolutions not to accept it ‘as the Bill in question is in total contravention to the Assam Accord of 1985.’
