Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will be moved in the parliament but will some new features.
He said the new CAB will satisfy the concerns of the people of the Northeastern region.
Sarma said this on the sidelines of a press conference on Tuesday.
He said the new Bill which will be moved in the next session of the Parliament will not override the provision of Article 371, will not override the Sixth Schedule and the existing laws protecting the tribal culture, language and ethnicity.
“There are many state laws which are protecting the tribals, their language and culture and none of them will be override by the CAB. Apart from this, the Inner Line Permit which is in force in many states will not be override by the new CAB,” Sarma added.
“We are going to move a new draft CAB which will be acceptable to the people of Northeast. I feel the new CAB will largely satisfy the concerns of the people of Northeast that their culture and language will be affected,” said the minister.
He said the BJP has already started the process of consultation with the stakeholders in the region.
“The process of holding consultation has already started and several top BJP leaders will be here in Assam before November to interact with people and organizations about the BIll,” Sarma said.
Reiterating that the BJP is not happy with the recently published National Register of Citizens (NRC), the finance minister said there is a strong case for review and that the government will approach the Supreme Court for review of the whole NRC process.
He said that there are several confusions attached to the NRC.
“After the state coordinator published the NRC, it has to be notified by the Registrar General of India (RGI).
“I believe that the NRC will go to Supreme Court now who will either send it to the RGI or to the state coordinator. Once it is notified then only the 120 days period will start for filing fresh claims,” Sarma added.