BJP Leader Comes Under Fire for Accusing Nagas of 'Racial Discrimination'

Dimapur, June 26, 2019:

A BJP leader has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking direction to prevent the extension of Inner Line Permit (ILP) to new areas of Nagaland, which has come under fire from many Naga organizations like the Naga Hoho, the Naga Students' Federation, the Western Sumi Hoho, among others.

The PIL, filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, sought direction to take steps for protection of 'life and liberty, properties and other fundamental rights' of non-Nagas living in commercial hub Dimapur due to imposition to ILP.

The petition sought direction to "declare that all Indian citizens shall have the right to move freely throughout the territory of India and Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, which gives unbridled power to the State to prescribe ILP for Indian citizens, is arbitrary unreasonable and offends Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India."

The petition stated that the colonial era regulation was passed by the then British government to prohibit Indian citizens from moving to select districts to create a monopoly in business and the State Cabinet has taken a decision to extend the operation of the 1873 Regulation in Dimapur.

It added, "Therefore, many non-Nagas who have landed properties with commercial shops, godowns, etc. and who are staying in as tenants, and many locals who earn their income by means of collecting house rent from tenants would be adversely affected."

"Gujaratis, Rajasthanis, Biharis, Jharkhandis, Bengalis, Gorkhas, Bodos, Dimasas, Karbis, Garos etc. have been regarded as outsiders by the government of Nagaland, which is racial discrimination," petition further said.

The petition further stated that the government should not encourage ILP system and should instead make sure that people of particular States are not deprived of economic opportunities due to migrants, it said, adding that the Constitution provides free movement of Indian citizens across the country and to get permission from the government to visit any place denies this right.

"Many traders/businessmen have to close down their business and leave Dimapur... a cosmopolitan town, such as Dimapur cannot be converted exclusively for Hill tribes on racial ground when it was never an integral part of Naga Hills," the petition read.

"When Nagaland acquired statehood, Dimapur, being a part of Assam, was legally and constitutionally excluded from the Naga Hills and from the Sixth Schedule. But, petitioner doesn't know how it was again included in the State of Nagaland after exclusion from Sixth Schedule?" added the petition.

If all North-Eastern States adopt such an alien concept, then the concept of citizenship will be diluted and fundamental rights will be immensely circumscribed, said the petition.

The petition is likely to be heard in July by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Meanwhile, many Naga organizations have condemned the BJP leader for the PIL and slammed him for depicting Nagas as "racist".

Currently, except Dimapur and parts of the district, ILP is imposed all over Nagaland.

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