Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma told union home minister Amit Shah that there is a need for proper consultation on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
Conrad along Meghalaya home minister James Sangma met Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Conrad, who has been vocal against the Bill, said the views of different ‘stakeholders’ regarding the bill must be taken.
Sharing a few images of the meeting with Shah on his Twitter handle, Conrad said: “Met the Hon’ble Home Minister Amit Shah ji to discuss issues related to CAB.”
“Discussed the need for proper consultation and the need to engage with stakeholders to solicit opinion,” he added.
Also read: Assam: PM Modi will bring back Citizenship Bill, says Amit Shah
According to a statement, Shah expressed his willingness to have discussion with the stakeholders.
“The Home Minister expressed his willingness to meet all stakeholders to discuss and garner views on the subject and also told the state government to initiate steps to coordinate with the Centre in this regard,” said the statement.
Earlier, Amit Shah, who is also the national president of the ruling BJP, had announced that the NDA government at the Centre would bring the CAB before the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India till December 31, 2014.
The CAB was passed by the Lok Sabha but it lapsed as the bill could not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha due to protests by several NDA allies including NPP and other organisations in the Northeast.
But the BJP vows to get the bill passed in the Parliament soon.
During a meeting at Silchar on September 20 last, BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav said, “We have quashed Article 370 for the people of Jammu and Kashmir… and now we will pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill soon for all of you, who had suffered a lot due to partition.”
Also read: Assam: Citizenship Bill will be passed soon, says Ram Madhav
Amit Shah asked the Meghalaya government to put forth their issues in writing, the statement said.
Conrad, who is the national president of the National People’s Party (NPP), also discussed the issue of amending the Sixth Schedule.
“Conrad also discussed various concerns raised by the committee for the amendment to the Sixth Schedule,” the statement noted.
On September 26, a sub-committee constituted by the Meghalaya government decided to recommend to the Standing Committee of Parliament the removal of the word “unrepresented tribes” from the amended Sixth Schedule.
Also read: Meghalaya CM clears air on Sixth Schedule amendment
