Six student bodies gear up for sustained stir
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 10 2019:
Taking strong exception to the Central Government's initiative to transform the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) 2016 into an Act, six student bodies namely; AMSU, MSF, DESAM, SUK, KSA and AIMS have geared up to launch a sustained mass agitation.
A joint statement issued by the six student bodies also pointed out many alleged inconsistencies and contradictions in the statements made by Chief Minister N Biren.
It categorically remarked that the BJP-led NDA Government passed the CAB 2016 in the Lok Sabha as a part of their vote bank politics and the same move was aimed at wiping out all the indigenous peoples of the North East from their own homelands.
The Bill which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had resided in India for six years by 2014 is guided by a sinister design to wipe out all the indigenous people of the North East, asserted the student bodies.
The whole North East region will burn if the CAB is passed in the Rajya Sabha too or the same Bill is implemented forcibly, they warned.
It is a matter of grave concern that none of the political parties active in the State can make any bold statement against the Bill except for some altercations among them.
For the past many decades, people of the State and student bodies have been demanding an effective constitutional mechanism to safeguard the indigenous people of the land and there have been many casualties but the successive State Governments never acted in line with the people' s pulse.
The CAB 2016 is a strategy of the Narendra Modi Government to obliterate and destroy the identity, culture and traditions of the indigenous people of Manipur, the student bodies alleged.
They pointed out that BJP promised to grant Indian citizenship to selected groups of people based on religions through their manifesto of 2014 general election.
They also condemned the brutal police crackdown against CAB protesters in Tripura where six students sustained critical injuries.
They noted that immigrants have completely dominated the demographic profile of Tripura.
The student bodies called upon all the people of the State to join hands with the people of other Northeastern States and fight collectively so that the Bill is not passed by the Rajya Sabha.
They alleged that Chief Minister N Biren has been making a number of inconsistent and contradictory statements on public platforms.
On May 21 last year, N Biren stated that the CAB 2016 would affect only Assam and it has nothing to do with Manipur.
But Union Home Minister Rajnath categorically stated in the Lok Sabha recently that the CAB 2016 would be applied throughout the country.
Again, Chief Minister N Biren stated that the CAB 2016 would not have any impact on Manipur as the State Assembly had already passed the Manipur People Protection Bill 2018 .
But the people of three Northeastern States including their Chief Ministers where the ILPS is in force have raised strong and vociferous objections against CAB 2016.Earlier, Chief Minister N Biren told the India Today that the Manipur People Protection Bill would only regulate entry of non-local people into the State and it would not impose any restriction on buying land by non-local people and settlement in the State.
"Our people should stop believing such inconsistent statements made by the State Government from time to time", it said.
The student bodies further conveyed that they are full prepared to launch a sustained, collective movement in order to secure the future of the State.
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