BJP has agenda to outnumber locals in NE: Hynniewtrep Youth Council

A Correspondent

SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has blamed it on the BJP having an agendum to outnumber the indigenous people of the north-eastern region with illegal settlers from Bangladesh through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

According to HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin, the Bill is appeasement of a particular religious group from Bangladesh.

“The BJP knows that it can’t penetrate into the Northeast, and through this Bill it wants to appease the people from a particular religion from Bangladesh which can be their major vote bank,” Kharjahrin said on the sidelines of the black flag march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 held in the city on Friday.

The protest against the Bill was held under the banner of the Confederation of Hynñiewtrep Social Organizations (CHSO).

The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship in India.

Kharjahrin also said that the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty was also signed to appease a particular religious only.

According to Kharjahrin, if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill becomes an Act, the indigenous people of the region will be wiped out. “Our culture, our land rights will be snatched away,” the HYC president said.

He also said that although the Meghalaya government has done the right thing by opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill through a Cabinet Resolution, yet this was not enough. “The government must pass an official resolution in the Meghalaya Assembly, like what their counterpart in Mizoram has done,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Mizoram Assembly unanimously resolved to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Kharjahrin also said that the Bill can attract the whole of Bangladesh and not only the Hindus staying there. According to him, religion is not permanent and Bangladeshis who may want to come to India can convert themselves into Hindus, taking advantage of the Bill before entering the country.

Kharjahrin also stated that during a meeting with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the HYC had stressed 100 per cent prevention of infiltration to the State even as he urged the traditional institutions in the State to stringently set up a mechanism to check illegal immigrants.

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