Anti-CAB body demonstrates outside BJP office in Shillong

An organisation opposed to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill demonstrated outside the BJP office here on Monday, when the proposed legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Workers of the Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisation (CoMSO) also burnt

effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, during their anti- CAB demonstration.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there. They will be given Indian citizenship after residing in the country for five years, instead of 11 years which is the current norm.

Indigenous people of the Northeastern states are scared that the entry of these people will endanger their identity and livelihood.

 

Various organisations of the region have launched a series of agitations against the Bill.

The CoMSO also held a procession beside the Raj Bhavan demanding that the governor give his nod to an ordinance aiming at protecting the interests of the indigenous tribal population.

"We want the Governor to give his assent to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act 2016 amendment ordinance which was framed in place of the ILP," CoMSO chairman Robertjune Kharjahrin said in a statement.

Following the publication of NRC in Assam, the state government in September said it is contemplating to add more teeth to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act 2016 to check illegal immigration into the state.

The protests came ahead of Tuesday's bandh called by the North East Students Organisation (NESO), an umbrella body of the students' bodies of the region.

Security has been tightened in the state particularly in sensitive government installations across the state.