By Bhupen Goswami (PNI)

Guwahati : After Bill To Give Citizenship Passed By Lok Sabha BJP Alliance Party of North East demands to break ties with the NDA governmen.Assam and Meghalaya have been facing the problem of illegal immigrants for a long time now and that’s nothing new. But rather than solving the issue, the present BJP led government decided to introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and is slowly turning these states into a dumping ground of ‘legalized’ immigrants. However, three Northeastern states (Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland) were on their toes from the very moment when the concept of the Bill was proposed and strongly opposed it. On the other hand, Assam’s BJP led government and its leaders along with CM Sarbananda Sonowal took a surprising turnaround that has left the people of this state in misery and agony with deep feeling of being betrayed by their own.

With NDA government moving ahead with Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016; BJP allies in Northeast India are in discomfort. National People’s Party (NPP) which is leading the six party coalition government in Meghalaya where BJP is also a member has decided to convene the parties meeting to decide the future course of action. Already BJP’s ally in Assam, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has quitted the alliance and three ministers are resigning on Wednesday. In May last year Meghalaya cabinet has said no to the proposed bill. President of NPP WR Kharlukhi told Media Persons, “I have met the chief minister Conard Sangma and party will soon convene a meeting on the issue of the bill.” He added, “We will study the bill in detail. However this bill is dangerous for Northeast India. I do not know why Centre Centre government is imposing this bill when the region has witnessed such strong anti-foreigners movement in 1979.

We will take a call on this.” When asked by media persons Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad said, “We will see when the situation comes”. Conrad also said that there is no confusion about the stand of the Meghalaya government on the controversial stand as the state cabinet was the first to pass a resolution to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government in Nagaland which has Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)and BJP has resolved to urge the Centre to re-examine and review the Bill to ensure that it was in consonance with the provisions of the Constitution of India and the existing practices of the Nagas.The cabinet also resolved to convene an all-party meeting to examine the issue in its entirety. Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga said the state government is against the Bill. He said Mizo National Front (MNF) had been opposing the bill. “The bill is an attempt to make illegal migrants eligible for Indian citizenship on the basis of religion.” He added that bill is against the principle of secularism. “If passed the bill would be harmful to states like Mizoram where there are a large number of illegal Buddhist migrants from Bangladesh”. NPP, MNF and NDPP are a member of BJP floated platform on non-congress parties, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma has once again come upfront and strongly said ‘NO’ to implementing the Bill. This comes at a time when whole of Assam is in dire-straits, as the Citizenship Bill threatens to endanger the culture, heritage, originality, opportunities and the very existence of Assamese society. A strong stand from someone like Sangma, who is also running a coalition government in Meghalaya with BJP, does send a strong message to our ‘Jatiya Nayak’ – CM Sarbananda Sonowal.