MEGHALAYA GOVT. OPPOSED PROPOSED CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL, 2016

Meghalaya has decided to say no to the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Informing this after the cabinet meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said “We oppose this proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.”

Stating that the Government has already gone through the proposed amendment bill, Tynsong said, “In the cabinet we decided to say no to the proposed amendment bill.”

The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will visit Meghalaya on 10th and 11th of this month.  

Talking about its visit, the deputy chief Minister said, “Parliament has constituted this joint parliamentary committee, and this committee goes to each and every state to take views and get on boat all the stakeholders and various state Government.”

Meghalaya Government according to the Deputy Chief Minister is opposition on two clauses which says, “ The proposed Bill states - “Provided that persons belonging to minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been exempted by the central government  by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of the Act.”

It also added - “Provided that for the persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the aggregate period of residence or service of a government in India as required under this clause shall be read as “not less than six years” in place of “not less than eleven years”.

At a time when the saviour of Jati,Mati, Bheti of Assam is on the hide and in a state of slumber against the Citizenship Amendment Bill,  2016, it's neighbouring state, Meghalaya Government's take on the issue is worth the credit which has emerged saviour in true sense of the word