Some of those who voted YES had this to say:
• Indigenous people will be turn into overpopulated areas with lack of jobs, space and unseen crimes to follow etc. In other words, demography of any state will be greatly affected. A cause of concern is equal treatment be given to all irrespective of caste, creed, class, religion etc.
• Yes, very much, particularly indigenous communities in North East India will be directly afflicted and affected. The central government run with RSS remote control aim of this bill is to bring all the Hindus from neighbouring countries to India so that Indigenous population in NEI is overtaken. Our state government is unfortunately incapable to visualizing it. They are just local dogs who parks just to bless New Delhi masters.
• Yes, very much. Ours is a federal system and the central government cannot implement such evil designed policy to destroy natives in states like Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and particularly Nagaland. NSF must demand resignation of the present government if they continue to wait and watch. Our civil societies should give ultimatum. Our NPGs must also raise their demand. Because the card is in their hand no matter what they say and interpret. Our politicians for the sake of increasing their bank account are exterminating the rights and identity of our indigenous people.
• Yes, very much... Our life, culture, language, food, religion, economy all are in jeopardy. We cannot expect anything good from our government. They are already hypnotized by saffron money and power. They cannot think beyond Hornbill Festival and secret parties in Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangkok... etc. It is encouraging to see NSF standing for our Rights. All must support and show solidarity with the NSF in their journey to safeguard our rights so that our children walk tall tomorrow.
• Yes, very much. The northeast region, which is the homeland of many indigenous communities, has been flooded by illegal immigrants. The proposed Citizen Amendment Bill which will give the illegal immigrants a legal status will definitely affect the north east region.
• Yes. The Citizenship Amendment Bill if implemented will allow illegal immigrants the legal status of citizenship of religious minorities from neighbouring countries. It is absolutely detrimental to the indigenous people due to the following factors: 1) There is already an overwhelming number of illegal immigrants with citizenship through illegal means or without citizenship. As a result, there will be greater influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries. 2) There is greater possibility of security threats to indigenous people in particular and national in general. For instance, ISIS has recruited or is recruiting few Indian youths, and the amendment will definitely pose greater chance of infiltration into India. 3) The so-called indigenous people will be deprived of their tiny inherited land and possessions. 4) Their socio-economic and cultural identities will be virtually disfigured or deprived. 5) The so-called indigenous people are seen more backward economically and intellectually, owing to this, the illegal immigrants who came to India illegally due to poor national border defence usually took this advantage and seek refuge in the indigenous commercial hubs or in bigger towns. Thereby, pushing the indigenous people towards less developed areas. This way, the indigenous people are directly or indirectly put to greater disadvantages as also seen the case of Tripura. Tripura was filled by illegal Bangladeshis and not Indian citizens coming from other states. As a result, the indigenous people of Tripura are completely deprived of their inherited land and are facing immense insecurities in various dimensions. Similarly, the other northeastern states will definitely face the same situations in the near future if the bill is implemented. There are various dimensions of indigenous disadvantages with the bill; therefore, the indigenous people should strongly protest the bill and the government should hear the voices of hue and cry of the people for greater national peace and security in the country.
• Yes very much. When indigenous people become minority and voiceless in our own land, then we will realise how such act is detrimental to our people and identity. We are stupid people, we act so powerful when ULB issue came up and completely destroyed the rights and future of our own sisters. But when outsiders are all set to destroy our rights, freedom and identity our so called leaders are keeping mum just for the sake of money and power. NSF please ask Rio his government position on this issue. NSF please ask Patton his BJP position. NSF please ask Moiva, his position on this, NSF please ask UGs their position on this...NSF please ask NAGA HOHO and other civil societies, their position on this. Why people of Nagaland. Are all keeping mum.
Some of those who voted NO had this to say:
• No. Through this Bill, it gives an opportunity to immigrants to become citizens of India. Once this Bill is introduced the difference between illegal immigrants and a citizen will become much clearer. I would say that it will help in fighting against illegal immigrants.
• No, why should we fear.
Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:
• To bring an all round developments in any state: It's time that the modern democracy like India need to legislate a new law/amend on Representation of People's Act, because of the following consideration as a top priority challenges: 1) A politician must possessed high educational qualification in order to possessed the transparency and capability to manage any affairs which involves huge pecuniary project. 2) A politician with insufficient educational quality and quantity tends to lack executional ability for any project that involves crore of rupees. So he will definitely mismanage major portion of the funds. A politician with no proper educational qualification also lacks innovation and creativity. As a result, the state flooded with such majority politicians will not bring much change to the government or to the state. 3) A well intellectual politician seems to have more compassion and empathy for the upliftment of the people and also listens to people with full respect to the fundamentals of democracy. So far there isn't such law regarding the proper educational qualification for the Representative in India. So it's time to amend the Representational Act in order to bring more changes and prevent corruption. In the context of Nagaland, political parties doesn't matter much if majority ruling politicians are well qualified and are keen for all round developments. But so far PDA government is concerned, public don't find anything new that attract the peoples attention with respect to development.
Major areas like health, agriculture, education and other sectors still remains with the same old story - Teachers, with no salary, students without scholarships, poor hospitals and deteriorations of PHC. However, there is hope that the present government is likely to bring a change.
There is an optimistic indication on CMP which contain a 16-page which was recently published in the newspaper announcing the key areas for all round developments including prioritizing economic growth in the state. In fact, if the PDA government implement and fulfills them all rather than just a mere speech, then it will be a better Nagaland. There is a major setback in the governance of Nagaland and that is a sense of tribalism deeply rooted in almost all individuals which is also to some extent responsible for the cause of corruption.
