InsideNE poll watch: ‘Citizenship (Amendment) Bill’ vs ‘Demonetization’

Guwahati, March 31, 2019:

In the lead up to the Lok Sabha elections 2019, we at InsideNE posted a poll on our official Facebook page on Saturday. The reason for this poll is to gauge the public’s opinion about the upcoming elections and the issues that will affect the votes.

The question that was being asked was which issue will determine the vote during the upcoming polls, that of demonetization or the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. At the time of filing this report, 692 of our precious followers have responded and the results are rather startling. Of the 692 people who voted, 83% chose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, while a measly 17% voted for ‘Demonetization’.

This survey shows the mood in the Northeast. Although the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is over (for now), Northeasterners still fear that it might be brought back in one form or another. Even BJP President Amit Shah has confessed that the Bill is one of the BJP’s biggest agendas after the election and the Assam BJP unit has reiterated that the Bill is not dead.

Moreover, as per our sources, it is expected that the Bill will play a major role in the elections of Nagaland and Manipur, as it is now being seen as an issue of ‘Hindutva’ versus ‘Secularism’ with the latter being seen to be under threat in the Northeast region due to the Bill. The issue of the Bill remains to remain a popular one which is evidenced by the likes of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma still using the Bill as a major campaign issue to woo the sentiments of voters.