A high-level meeting of North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) on Wednesday resolved to do everything possible to prevent passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Several senior party leaders from across the Northeast region, including former Meghalaya chief minister, Mukul Sangma, attended the NECCC meeting.
The coordination committee, in a statement, said the NDA government was certain to try and get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in the next session, which will be the last sitting before the Lok Sabha elections.
“The attempt to grant Indian citizenship en masse to certain groups based solely on their religion is blatantly communal and, therefore, un-Constitutional. If enacted as law, CAB will nullify Clause 5 of the Assam Accord of 1985, which provides the safeguard of detecting and deporting all illegal migrants of the post-1971 period from Assam, be they Muslims or Hindus. If passed in the Rajya Sabha the CAB will also render the NRC process in Assam absolutely meaningless,” it stated.
“This catastrophe for the people of the Northeast, and Assam in particular, must be averted
at all costs,” it added.
The NECCC further resolved to enlist the help of all members of the Rajya Sabha who are opposed to CAB to prevent the Bill from becoming an Act during the next session of the House of Elders and also convey the danger inherent in the Bill to those members of the Rajya Sabha who may be as yet undecided regarding the issue.
“Though the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill had already been passed by the Lok Sabha, a determined stand by a united Opposition managed to prevent the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha during the recently-concluded session of Parliament,” Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader from Assam, Bhubaneswar Kalita informed the media after the NECCC meeting.