NESO stands firm against Citizen (Amendment) Bill 2016, lines up series of protests
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 14 2018: The North East Students' Organisation (NESO) has announced a series of agitations demanding total withdrawal of Citizen (Amendment) Bill 2016, Foreigner (Amendment) Order 2015, Passport (Entry into India) Notification 2015 and long term visa, which were imposed by the Central Govt in the North East region allegedly to protect the interest of the illegal Bangladeshis.

Citing the series of agitations to be held, a statement of NESO informed that a protest will be organized on November 20 at Guwahati followed by another protest programme on November 30 in all State capitals of the seven States of the North East, by component organizations of NESO.

It further informed that a protest rally will also be organized in New Delhi at the beginning of the Parliament session.

While member organization of NESO will meet the Ministers, MLAs and MPs of respective States of NE to demand the opposition of the Bill.

The press statement conveyed that all the States of the NE region have faced the problem of unabated illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

It said that the continuous flow of foreigners from Bangladesh has constantly altered the demography of each States of the NE region.

NESO alleged that all the political parties have deliberately ignored and abated the problem to grow over the decades and all the successive Union Govts have chosen to impose heavy burdens of foreigners on the States.

"There is no visible, concrete and sincere effort on the part of the Union Government to seal the border to stop illegal immigration from Bangladesh even today", NESO asserted and alleged that the situation arises due to the failure of the Central Government and the security forces on the border.

The illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are on the verge of outnumbering the indigenous population of Assam in near future, it added.

NESO welcomed the preparation of the updated NRC in Assam on the basis of the Assam Accord however expressed concern that various attempts are being made to sabotage the entire process of preparing the NRC in Assam.

The organisation has also demanded the preparation of NRC for all the States of NE region and urged all State Govts to initiate measures to prepare the NRC in the States by fixing the modalities after deliberating with the respective students' body immediately.

Speaking about Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, NESO claimed all the measures taken up under the said Bill are communal in character and therefore unconstitutional.

It stated that illegal foreigner is a foreigner regardless the religion.

It is a threat to the language, culture, identity of the indigenous people of North East, it said and warned the Central Govt that, at any atmosphere, NESO and the people of North East will not accept the Bill, Order, Notification.

"North East is not a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis", NESO asserted.

It maintained that the Order, the Rule, the Bill and the Visa provision for the illegal Hindu immigrants till December 31, 2014 will gravely harm the future of the ethnic communities in the region.

The measures patently violate the Assam Accord and threaten to nullify the ongoing process of preparing the NRC of Assam, it claimed.

The attempts to sabotage the process will severely erode the demand of NRC in the region, it said and added that NESO sense a political design of the Union Govt to eradicate the demand for NRC for the entire NE region.

NESO claimed that the organisation met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Delhi to express its total opposition of the proposed Bill.

NESO also placed its strong opposition to the Bill before the Joint Parliamentary Committee in Shillong.

Meanwhile, the organisation has lauded the Meghalaya Govt for taking a Cabinet decision to oppose the Bill.

Mizoram Government has also taken a decision on the same line, it claimed and demanded other States to reject the Bill through similar Cabinet decisions.

It appealed to all the political parties based in NE region to take a respective stand against the proposed Citizen (Amendment) Bill 2016.The organisation has also expressed its gratitude to Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar for supporting its cause.

It may be mentioned that NESO comprises of the Khasi Students' Union (KSU), All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Naga Students' Federation (NSF), Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), Twipra Students' Federation (TSF), All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU), Garo Students' Union (GSU) and All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) representing eight major students' movements of the seven States of the North East Region.

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