Amit Shah calls meet on CAB, no invite to CSOs of Manipur
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 28 2019: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called a meeting on Friday to discuss with the civil society and political parties the proposed draft Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which has been a bone of contention with the Opposition parties and some North Eastern States. Significantly none of the NGOs from Manipur have been invited to the meeting.

Speaking to The Sangai Express a leader of MANPAC, which is spearheading the agitation against the proposed CAB, said that they have not been invited, though the said invitation has been sent to NGOs of Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

Notably Chief Minister N Biren during a media briefing yesterday had stated that Chief Secretary Dr J Suresh Babu is in Delhi to see if and how a special clause may be added to CAB to exempt/protect Manipur and the North Eastern States when CAB is enacted.

The invite sent to various organisations says, "consultation meeting on the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill chaired by Hon'ble Union Home Minister in New Delhi".

Sources said that the meeting at Shah's residence is likely to start at 9 in the evening.

The meeting is likely to be attended by all the political parties of the North Eastern States and civil society groups.

However, it's not clear whether mainstream political parties have been invited or not.

The CAB intends to make it easier for the non-Muslim immigrants from India's three Muslim-majority neighbours -- Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become citizens of India.

Though the Bill doesn't spell it out clearly, the fact is it entitles the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, facing religious persecution in the three Nations, to seek Indian citizenship and highlights the exclusion of Muslims.

This amendment is to The Citizenship Act, 1955 which requires the applicant to have resided in India for 11 of the previous 14 years.

The amendment seeks to relax this requirement from 11 years to 6 years for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the three Nations.

But the bone of contention remains not only with the Opposition parties which have said they will oppose it once it is put to vote, but many North Eastern States fear that the Bangladeshi immigrants will be settled in their areas, which they think is a threat to their ethnic identity.

In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, almost the entire North East, mostly ruled by the BJP or the NDA, had registered their protest.

It is believed that the Government is planning to bring the CAB in the Parliament next week.

Earlier, Government had said that they will bring the CAB in the winter session of the Parliament. Meanwhile, Congress MPs from North East will stage the demonstration in front of the Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises.

But as a revamped Bill is all set to be re-introduced by the Modi Government, there are provisions that are said to be included to "protect" the indigenous people of the North East.

Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh had said during a media interaction in October that "we trust and have confidence that Central leaders will be there to protect the indigenous people of the North Eastern region" .

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