Against the Citizenship Bill Act 2016

10th January, 2019 , Shillong

Sub: Against the Citizenship Bill Act 2016

With due respect, I would like to state that please kindly publish the given statements cited below with regards to the subject cited above.

“It is a very unfortunate, condemnable and illogical acts of BJP led government and supporters that let Citizenship Bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from other countries from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan passed on Tuesday, the 8th January 2019 by the Lok Sabha.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 is contemptible as it bypass the democratic ideals of India. Introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, its primary objective is to amend the current Citizenship Act 1955 to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship for a certain category of illegal immigrants and not for the benefits of any citizens of NE and rest of India.

Additionally, this bill relaxes the citizenship criteria for such immigrants and merges the categories of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) together. This Bill cannot be acceptable to people of the Region.

When Mr. Modi, Prime Minister of India said that “I want to assure the people of Assam and North East that their rights will not be hurt after passage of the Citizenship Bill”. What Rights of the People is he talking about, when we are treated unjustly and undemocratically.

Apart from the Citizens issues worrying for other’s countries please look into the problems faced by people of the region. NE has many major issues to be discussed and solve at the earliest. Some may point out like, AFSPA, Law and Order, Internal Territorial State, Undemocratic Political issues, Immigrants / Refugees problems, Revolutionary issues, Educational drawback issues etc.

Please bring solutions to these problems. Stop giving burden to the NE people by passing such illogical bill against the people of NE. North East is a small region which comprises of seven sisters and one brother states namely as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim respectively.

It is approximately an area of 262,230 square kilometres which is almost 8 percent only of that of India. North East India so different from the rest of India. Nothing is common other than being Indian.

Precisely the food intake, life-style, cultures and traditions, environmental and geographical factors etc... This bill will affect the indigenous people of this region and threats to the identity and cultures prevailing in North East. The immigrants / refugees in NE will soon rise in its peak and turn into a citizen.

NE was never part of India or any Indian kingdoms before the British came and conquered unfortunately. In fact, NE should be protected & safeguarded from the rest of the country with prior to the Indigenous and uniqueness of the region.

Even after India became an independent country on 15th August, 1947, 72nd years of Independent, India have failed to recognised and established for the wellbeing to the people of the Region. We are living in a broken democracy with untruth leaders. If India cannot feel our sentiments and keep on doing such injustice to the people of the Region, I belief one day India will have to face the consequences of all the deeds done to this Region.”

Yours sincerely,
Chongtham Thangamba Meetei,
Teacher of St. John Higher Secondary School cum
Advisor of the Shillong Manipuri Students’ Union, Shillong
Shillong, Meghalaya