DIMAPUR, JULY 16 (MExN): Former Nagaland State Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition, TR Zeliang today termed the state cabinet’s decision on the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 as “indecisive” and “ignorant.”
In a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Zeliang stated that as per Agenda 10 of the cabinet meeting dated June 5, 2018, “despite growing opposition to the bill, the state cabinet has either decided not to oppose the said bill intentionally or had taken the decision without understanding the content of the said bill, its significance and possible ramifications.”
Zeliang stated that as per the particular agenda “the cabinet feels that Nagaland is protected under Article 371 (A) of the Constitution of India and the ILP regulations. However if the proposed amendment goes against the interest of the Nagas, the Government of Nagaland will oppose such amendments. Otherwise the Government of Nagaland will not interfere in national policies.”
Zeliang said that as per his understanding, Article 371 (A) is in no way connected to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1995 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian extraction unlike the Inner Line Permit which only provides access to outsiders for inward travel to Nagaland.
Pointing to the unabated infiltration of illegal immigrants into Nagaland, the CM cautioned that relying in unconfirmed hypothesis such as protection under Article 371 (A) and ILP regulations is a “grievous fallacy.”
He stated that the cabinet agenda contains objectives which are “contradictory and inconsistent in itself” where it states that “if the proposed amendment goes against the interest of the Nagas, the Government of Nagaland will oppose such amendments.” Zeliang claimed that the agenda reveals the “ignorance of the state cabinet and thus the indecisiveness on the contentious matter or even worse, the decision was taken out of compulsion to gratify the central government at the cost of the Naga people.”
“If the bill is beneficial for the Nagas, the state government must support it but on the contrary, concluding that the Government of Nagaland will not interfere in national policies without understanding the implications of the bill is a clear threat on the Nagas and their identity,” Zeliang said.
He therefore asked the Nagaland CM to clearly spell out on what grounds the state cabinet had decided “not to oppose the said bill.
