Ahead of tabling the crucial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Parliament next week, Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday held discussions with leaders of political parties, students’ bodies and civil society groups of Northeastern States — Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya — on the contours of the proposed legislation in order to allay their apprehensions on the sensitive issue. Shah also listened to their views and changes are likely to be incorporated in the proposed legislation to be tabled before Parliament next week.
Chief Ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya Sarbananda Sonowal, Pema Khandu and Conrad Sangma respectively, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and several MPs attended the meetings separately.
Sonowal said the consultations carried out by Shah will allay all apprehensions on the CAB. The CAB was also an election promise of the BJP in the 2014 and the 2019 Parliamentary polls.
This is a very honest and democratic approach of taking along every section of people of the Northeast. I am sure those who have attended the meetings with the Home Minister felt assured of the Central Government’s commitments towards the Northeast region, according to Sonowal.
Most regional parties and civil society groups raised the issue of how CAB could affect the tribals in their respective States.
Shah is learnt to have indicated to the political leaders that the CAB may not affect the tribal areas protected by the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime and those who are governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, sources said.
Shah also conveyed to the delegations that tribal areas may be exempted from the ambit of the proposed Bill, the sources further said.
Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said even though most of the civil society groups had opposed the earlier Bill, the new redrafted Bill will ensure that the interests of the Inner Line Permit areas and the Sixth Schedule areas are protected from the proposed law.
Sarma also said a separate legislation may be brought on the recommendations of a committee set up by the Home Ministry to provide constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people of Assam.
The Assam-based political party AIUDF, headed by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, has opposed the Bill, which aims to give citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from three neighbouring countries.
The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who come to India due to religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan even if they don’t possess proper documents.
Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said he was opposed to the 2016 Bill but if the new Bill excludes the ILP-regime states, it can be considered.
President of the All Bodo Students Union Pramod Boro said his organisation conveyed to Shah that the student body opposed the CAB as it does not provide any safeguards to the tribal areas.
“We want constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people,” Bora said.
Shah will again hold the meetings on December 3 in the wake of strong protests in the Northeast against the CAB.On Friday, Shah held meetings with delegations from Tripura and Mizoram.
The ILP regime is applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. In terms of Section 2 of the BEFR, citizens of other States require ILP to visit these three States.
The main objective of the ILP system is to prevent settlement of other Indian nationals in the three states in order to protect the indigenous population.
Under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, autonomous councils and districts were created in certain tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The autonomous councils and districts enjoy certain executive and legislative powers.
A large section of people and a few organisations in the Northeast have opposed the Bill, saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a few other political parties have been steadfastly opposing the Bill, claiming that citizenship can’t be given on the basis of religion.
On Friday, 12 non-BJP MPs belonging to the Northeast have also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exclude the Northeastern States from the purview of the proposed Bill, claiming if the legislation is passed, the tribal population of the region will be vulnerable to displacement.
The BJP-led NDA Government had introduced the Bill in its previous tenure and got the Lok Sabha’s approval. However, the Government did not introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha and it lapsed following the dissolution of the last Lok Sabha.
According to the previous Bill, those who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, will benefit from the proposed legislation after it becomes an Act of Parliament.
The cut-off date prescribed in the previous Bill may be changed, sources said.
The Centre has listed the Bill in its items of business for the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament and is set to introduce in the ongoing session for its passage.
The BJP and its affiliates have been pushing for inclusion of minorities from the three countries under the ambit of the law to grant them citizenship.