Guwahati, May 9: Ahead of the three-day visit of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Assam, various organisations in the northeast region have once again threatened to restart their agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) if the government tried to implement it in the region.
Shah would attend at least eight different events on Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with the completion of one year of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led second alliance government headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was sworn in on May 10, 2021.
The All Assam Students’ Union, the Raijor Dal, a political party headed by Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad and the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) in Meghalaya announced to resume their agitations against the CAA after Shah on Thursday announced in West Bengal that the government would implement the CAA as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
KSU President Lambokstar Marngar said in Shillong that any attempt to implement the CAA would provoke unrest in the hill state.
“The Centre, instead, responding the Meghalaya Assembly’s unanimous resolution and demands of almost all political parties, should extend the Inner-Line Permit system, an 1873 regulation, in the entire Meghalaya to curb the entry of illegal immigrants,” Marngar told the media.
The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO), an umbrella body of more than 17 organisations, has been spearheading the agitation since 2019 for the introduction of ILP in the state.
If the ILP is enforced in entire Meghalaya, like in four other north-eastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, the state would keep itself out of the purview of the CAA.
The ILP is a temporary official travel document that allows an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.
Raijor Dal President Akhil Gogoi said that the people of Assam would never accept this “anti-people” law.
Gogoi said that BJP should realise that all sections of people are against the CAA as this is an anti-people law.
He had spearheaded the massive protests against the contentious citizenship law in Assam since 2019 and was arrested in connection with violent protests in the state in 2019 and was charged under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The Central government had earlier announced that the CAA would not apply to the ILP and the Tribal Autonomous District Council (TADC) areas.
In the north-eastern states, there are 10 TADCs, constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. While Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram have three TADCs each, Tripura has one.
