Shillong, Nov 30: A protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was held in Shillong on Friday and demanded scrapping of the Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to foreigners from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The Khasi Students Union (KSU) which is part of the North East Students Organisation (NESO) organized the protest near Additional Secretariat and joined by members of the KSU, Garo Students Union (GSU), Naga Students Union (NSU), Socio Cultural Assamese Association (SCAA), Tripura Students Union (TSU) and others.
The protesters shouted slogans against the BJP-led NDA government and took out placards which read – “Instead of Citizenship Amendment Bill, we want ILPâ€, “We will fight till the last drop of bloodâ€.
The Bill was introduced by Centre in Lok Sabha in July 2016 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – eligible for citizenship of India.
The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government had in May this year, decided to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa in his address, accused the Centre of attempting to “wipe out†the indigenous communities in the North East region through the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
“But today we want to send a clear message to the government that we will not accept this Bill and we will fight tooth and nail because the North East region cannot be treated as a dumping ground,†he said.
According to Jyrwa, if the Bill is allowed to go through, the microscopic indigenous population in the region, which is already faced with the problem of influx, will be in grave danger and threat and they may become minority in their own land.
He slammed the Centre for continuing to impose laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Earlier, KSU president, Lambokstarwell Marngar urged all states in the North East to oppose the Bill, and said that the government should bring effective laws to protect the indigenous communities by regulating the entry of outsiders.
“We demand the government to implement the National Register of Citizen (NRC) and Inner Line Permit (ILP) systems in all the North Eastern states,†Marngar said.
ASAA president, D Bhuyan said, “We condemn the powers that bring this Citizenship Amendment Bill,†while accusing the Centre of being concerned for people who are not Indians.
Urging other states in the North East not to be like Tripura where the indigenous people have become slaves in their own homeland, representatives from the Tripura Students Union (TSU) said that the indigenous people have lost their culture and identity to outsiders and sought the help of sister states to restore the rights of Tripuris over their land.
