Youth wing of Mizoram’s main opposition party, Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) on Thursday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovin, imploring him to reconsider the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) so it is not enforced in the country.
The letter was submitted through state Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai.
In the letter, the ZPM youth said it has staunch stand against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
It said that the amended law has been vociferously opposed by people in different parts of the country, including Mizoram.
In Mizoram, the amended act was strongly opposed by the people as it seeks to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, which contradicts the basic principle and certain provision of the constitution, the letter said.
It said that the ZPM youth is of the view that the fractional exclusion of some north-eastern states from the purview of the act infers the BJP-led central government’s motive to disintegrate the people of Northeast so as to “divide and rule” the region.
The exclusion of Mizoram from the ambit of the amended act does not really guarantee checking of illegal influx from neighbouring Bangladesh into the state, the letter added.
Calling the amended citizenship law ‘divisive’ and ‘unconstitutional’ the Mizoram University Students’ Council also on Wednesday urged the Centre to scrap it.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which was approved by the Parliament last week, has triggered widespread protest across the country.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to examine the constitutional validity of the amended law, but refused to stay its operation.
Home Minister Amit Shah had also said that the Centre will go ahead with the implementation of the law as any law once passed in the parliament could not be easily repealed.