Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday expressed hope that the Central Government has addressed the issues and concerns raised by several political parties and civil society groups on the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Sangma said unlike last year, the concerns of the people of Northeast were taken into account on this bill.
He said this time the Centre has taken a different approach to the bill and initiated communications with the state governments.
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Moreover, he said that in the recent discussions with union home minister Amit Shah, leaders of different political parties and civil society groups had also expressed their concerns on how the indigenous people in Meghalaya will be affected by the bill.
Conrad was of the view that the fact that the Centre has also agreed to make amendments in the whole process also shows that it is concerned about the effects that it could have in the rest of the Northeast.
On Wednesday, Union Cabinet gave its nod to the CAB that seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The Cabinet approval came after Amit Shah held consultative meetings with chief ministers of the north-eastern states, leaders of different political parties and civil society groups and other stakeholders in New Delhi.