Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and it's Impact in Northeast Discussed at Dimapur Government College

Dimapur, September 21, 2019:

A one-day symposium on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 and its impact on Northeast was held at the Dimapur Government College in Nagaland on Saturday.

The symposium was attended by Chief Secretary of Nagaland, Temjen Toy, as special guest and Editor-in- Chief of Inside Northeast, Afrida Hussain as the resource person. Many civil society organization members formed the audience.

The symposium sought suggestions to the pertaining issues of Northeast over the implementation of Citizenship Bill through discussion and debate.

Speaking as the key note speaker at the event, Temjen Toy mentioned that giving citizenship is not up to the state government, it is upto the central government. “Nagaland is safe as we have Article 371 (A). Many of the organizations have been vocal over the Inner Line Permit and the illegal foreigners which we need to be more concerned about. So to implement the ILP, reallocations are being done. And regarding the CAB, a lot of caution has to be taken.”

While speaking on the implementation of the CAB and its impact, Afrida Hussain said, “The Citizenship Amendment Bill is a highly controversial issue as it will provide citizenship to the people who have migrated to Assam. It also relaxes the requirement of residence in India from 11 years to 6 years, for these migrants. This violates the Assam Accord which says any person who can’t prove their ancestor’s presence in India before March 24 1971 will be deemed as an illegal

immigrant.”

Hussain alleged that the Citizenship Amendment Bill has tried to change the definition of illegal immigrants and excluded "religious minorities" from the illegal immigrant list.

She further added that the people of Northeast have agitated for a long time, but the movement needs to gain momentum in these trying times. "The politicians who are promising to protect the indigenous people in here must be asked to give their assurance in writing so that they cannot force their decision onto us", she added.

She further added that when the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being implemented, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is promising to deport "every single Bangladeshi spy", yet Shah, at the same time, is advocating for the implementation of the Bill which seeks to redefine the meaning of 'citizenship' itself.

Speaking during the occasion, the Principal of the Dimapur Government College said that the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Bill that has been creating a situation of chaos in the Northeast needs to be sorted out.

The symposium was organized under the chairmanship of Moamongla Aier, Asst Prof. of the college. Aier said that due to the relevance of the CAB in the context of the present society, the Political Science department had organized the event to sensitize the people about the implications of the CAB.

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