By Bhupen Goswami

 

GUWAHATI :A new anti-CAB front has been forged today as the regional political parties of the North East are meeting at Guwahati under the leadership of the Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. In the anti-CAB meeting, eleven regional political parties of NE including NEDA allies AGP, NPP, NDPP, UDP, JDU, IPFT have united and raised voice against the Bill. President of the Asom Gana Parishad, Atul Bora has reasserted that it will continue to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 till its end.

The regional party thanked the anti-CAB forces for opposing the Bill. “A committee to be formed by the anti-CAB regional parties of NE region. The Committee will try to gather support from other political parties against the contentious Bill. This is not a political gimmick, it’s a united initiative to stand against the Bill. It is a wake-up call for the indigenous people of North East against external aggression.

We called upon all indigenous communities of NE to be united against the forces that are potential threat to the existence of the sons of the soil.” – Bora added. The anti-CAB front has decided to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon. All the regional parties have opposed to CAB and the BJP realizing the potentiality of the NEDA in the coming election have been playing safe. The group is expected to exert pressure on the BJP to stop the CAB at Rajya Sabha. At the same time, the BJP is working behind the scene to turn the meeting just a mere formality of tokenism to ventilate the anger. The BJP is littler nervous because Mizoram and Meghalaya are tough on their stand and refused to accommodate BJP view at this moment. They will be joined by the JD (U), the NDA’s major ally in Bihar, and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which recently snapped ties with the BJP in Assam over the proposed legislation that seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India. Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad K Sangma is taking the lead role in convening the all-regional-parties meet on Tuesday, and the AGP is the co-convenor of the meeting, Meghalaya’s ruling party NPP leaders said on Monday.

The Mizo National Front (MNF) from Mizoram, the NDPP from Nagaland, the IPFT from Tripura and the SDF from Sikkim, besides the NPP leaderships from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur have confirmed their participation in the meeting, they said. KC Tyagi, general secretary of the Nitish Kumar’s-headed JD (U), arrived in Guwahati. The party’s national vice president, Prashant Kishore, is expected to reach the city. Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga left Aizawl on Monday for Guwahati to attend the meeting of chief ministers and regional parties of the Northeast to be held on Tuesday on the issue of the CAB, ruling MNF party sources said. Protests against the bill have rocked the Northeast region, with those opposing it contending that it would harm the rights of the indigenous people. The North East has 25 Lok Sabha seats and the BJP is lookinh to pick up 20 of them using the NEDA route.Representatives of political parties in seven northeastern states including Chief of National Peoples’ Party (NPP) and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Chief of Mizo National Front (MNF) and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga participated.

“We oppose the Bill together. We believe that the Bill if implemented will threaten and endanger the lives and identity of the indigenous people of Assam and other parts of the northeast,” said Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga.“This convention is being held keeping in consideration the issue of Central government’s move to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) bill 2016. We have today adopted a joint resolution to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016,” said convener of the convention and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma while addressing the media.

“The convention has also decided to appeal to the Central government to reconsider their stand on the contentious Bill,” he said adding that the convention has also jointly agreed to send a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of India Ramnath Kovind and appeal to them to scrap the Bill. Asked about if the parties will break away from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), Sangam said that the convention is not organized with any political intent. “It is not right to comment on that as of now. We hope that the government of India will reconsider their stand. This convention took place naturally due to our concern over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 and as we have responsibility towards people of the region. We have decided to meet the Prime Minister and President of India and will meet again in future to discuss the future course of action,” said Sangma.

The parties that took part in the convention include National Peoples Party (NPP), Mizo National Front (MNF), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Peoples Democratic Front (PDF), United Democratic party (UDP), Hill State Peoples Democratic Party (HSPDP), Indigenous’ Peoples Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT), Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), NDPP, KNHAM and JD (U).GP president Atul Bora said that a convention of northeast political parties has been convened in Guwahati on today to voice their protest against the Bill together.He said that “the entire Northeast is protesting the Bill and it’s unfortunate that the Assam government has ignored sentiments of the indigenous people and is instead attacking and harassing people and organisations opposing the Bill”.

Meanwhile After Mizoram and Meghalaya, the Nalagand’ People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) coalition government declared on 28th January that they oppose the controversial Citizenship Bill and also made sure that no stone leaves upturned to constantly protect the rights and privileges of the people. This declaration was made during a state cabinet meeting in Kohima on January 28 at the official residence of the Nagaland’s Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio. The meeting asserted that “we will continue to undertake measures to further strengthen safeguards for our people.” A press note issued through the cabinet secretary, Temjen Toy stated, “As the State government represents the will and desire of the people, the State Cabinet in its meeting held on January 28, 2019 makes it amply clear that the State Government remains opposed and rejects the CAB” It is to be mentioned that a new anti-CAB front is being forged today as the regional political parties of the North East are meeting at Guwahati under the leadership of the Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. The Mizo National Front (MNF) from Mizoram, the NDPP from Nagaland, the IPFT from Tripura and the SDF from Sikkim, besides the NPP leaderships from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur have confirmed their participation in the meeting, they said.