DIMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): Alleging that the Committee on BEFR/ILP/Inclusion of Dimapur under ILP has reneged on its commitment to give its recommendations to the Nagaland Government latest by November, 2018, the Joint Committee on Prevention of Illegal Immigrants (JCPI) has issued an ultimatum that the Committee place its findings/recommendations before the state government/cabinet within 10 days.
The JCPI, a recently formed body under the aegis of Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) and representing more than 20 Nagaland civil society organizations, through its media cell, also demanded that a copy of the findings/recommendations of the Committee be handed over to the JCPI for perusal.
The ultimatum was followed by a caution that failure to initiate the above mentioned measures within the said period by the Committee would compel the JCPI to resort to bandh/dharna/strike or agitation of any sort deemed fit to protect the state from illegal immigrants/immigration.
Asserting that the JCPI is grappling with some of the “most emotional and dangerous issues of our times,” it maintained that as a matured body representing the present and the future of our Naga people, it has been very co-operative and patient with the Committee.
However, “given the dilly- dallying of the Committee and the fiasco related to the government’s utter failure to protect the interest of the Naga people vis-à-vis the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, the JCPI is left with no choice but to be prepared to take recourse to democratic means of agitation to protect and safeguard our Naga rights,” it stated.
CM’s argument on CAB infantile
The JCPI also termed the argument given by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the NDPP that Article 371A, BEFR/ILP and Village Council Act 1978 is enough to deal with CAB as “infantile and bereft of rationality and reasoning as expected from seasoned politicians.”
Any college student should be able to comprehend that there is absolutely no linkage between Article 371A/ILP/Village Council Act, 1978 and citizenship as conferred by the Indian Constitution. To even remotely suggest otherwise is madness. In fact, no sane and literate person should bring in Article 371A/BEFR/ILP into the CAB argument,” it went on to add.
It also pointed out that when even the BJP CM of Manipur has objected to the CAB; when the CMs of Meghalaya and Mizoram have objected to the bill; when not even Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal has tried to justify himself, that the Nagaland chief minister would not oppose CAB has “demeaned and shamed the Naga people in the eyes of our Northeastern brethren.”
Unless the state government vehemently opposes the CAB, the people’s verdict would be that the government has sold-out on the Naga people for the sake of petty politics and the chair, it stated.
Given the background, the JCPI said it is now incumbent upon the apex tribal institutions to shoulder the responsibility of protecting the rights of the people. The JCPI also appealed to all sections of people – cutting across party lines – to be prepared for any eventuality, which would be spelled out in the days to come.
