Ram Madhav reassures North-East people on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill

New Delhi [India], Feb 12 (ANI): BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday reassured people of the North East that Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will not come in the way of their culture, language, identity or interest.
“We want to reassure the people of the North East that this bill is not going to cause any difficulty to their culture, language, identity or interest. Any such situation will be tackled by us,” Madhav told ANI.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will table the controversial Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
In view of the volatile situation in the northeastern state of Manipur, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC was imposed in East and West Imphal districts on Monday.
As per the orders of the district magistrate, “Section-144 is imposed in Imphal till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to the situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various civil society organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha.”
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh voiced their opposition to the Bill during their meeting with the Union Home Minister here recently and urged him not to press for the Bill in the Upper House.
Moving the Bill, the Union Home Minister had clarified: “The beneficiaries of Citizenship Amendment Bill can reside in any state of the country. The burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country.”
“Assam alone would not have to bear the entire burden and the Government of India is committed to giving all help to the State Government and people of Assam,” Singh had said.
Singh had also highlighted the discrimination and religious persecution faced by these communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They have no place to go to, except India, he said.
“The Act will provide relief to persecuted migrants who have come through western borders of the country to states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and other states,” he had said.
Addressing a rally in Guwahati recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also dispelled apprehensions about the Bill, saying that the rights of the people of Assam and that of other northeastern states would remain intact. (ANI)