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* Now only a few areas in NE will be left out where the CAB will be implemented: Himanta
A CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Sixth Schedule areas and the States with ILP (Inner Line Permit) will be excluded from the ambit of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that will be brought in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament. This assurance was given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his back-to-back meetings with representatives from different political parties, civil society organizations and student bodies, among others. Informing this to the media after the meeting at the Assam House here on Saturday, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Now only a few areas in the Northeast will be left out where the CAB will be implemented.”
Sarma further said, “The CAB, this time, will have a fixed dateline for granting Indian citizenship. People who came to India before December 31, 2014 can apply for citizenship,” adding: All the representatives at the meeting have expressed their satisfaction after the Union Home Minister conveyed the message.
The meeting in New Delhi was convened by Shah to have a consensus over the Bill as the government is planning to introduce the CAB in the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament.
The Sixth Schedule deals with the administration of tribal areas in the north-eastern States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram having 10 autonomous district councils. The ILP is applicable in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and in some places of Sikkim.
Shah has also assured the representatives that Clause 6 of the Assam Accord will be implemented as soon as the High-Level Committee assigned for the purpose, submits its report. The Central government in the recent past had set up a committee comprising intellectuals, civil society members from Assam to work on modalities for implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which ensures several rights for the indigenous people of the State.
Meanwhile, the Congress seems rigid in opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
“This Bill will create a chaotic situation and bring in a sense of insecurity amongst the indigenous people of the Northeast,” said Mukul Sangma, former Chief Minister of Meghalaya.
Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki also expressed the same concern. “We’ve lodged our protest against the Bill. We have said that this Bill is against the people of the Northeast,” said Tuki, adding: The Home Minister, has, however assured us that he will bring the new ‘CAB, 2019’ in the present session of the Parliament.”
Interestingly, the AGP (Asom Gana Parishad) refrained from making any comment on the issue. “We were told that the interests of the indigenous people of Assam and the Northeast would be kept intact. The Bill will be prepared keeping in mind the interests of the entire north-eastern States,” said AGP president Atul Bora.
The NESO on Saturday night, however, remained adamant in opposing the Bill in any form, “The CAB is totally against the interest of the indigenous people of the Northeast; and we will never accept it.” NESO president Samuel Jyrwa told Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the meeting, “Once the CAB is passed, even the ILP and the Sixth Schedule provisions will fail to protect the interests of the indigenous people of the Northeast.”