Guwahati: Ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah visit to Assam, several organisations in the Northeast have once again threatened to launch their protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) if the Centre tried to implement it in the region.
Home Minister Shah would attend at least eight different events on Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with the completion of one year of the BJP-led second government in Assam.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad, and Meghalaya’s Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) announced to resume their agitations against the CAA.
Home Minister Shah on Thursday announced in West Bengal that the government would implement the CAA as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
KSU president Lambokstar Marngar said in Shillong that any attempt to implement the CAA would provoke unrest in the hill state.
“The Centre, instead, responding to the Meghalaya Assembly’s unanimous resolution and demands of almost all political parties should extend the Inner-Line Permit system, an 1873 regulation, in the entire Meghalaya to curb the entry of illegal immigrants,” Marngar told reporters.
The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO), an umbrella body of more than 17 organisations, has been spearheading the agitation since 2019 for the introduction of ILP in the remaining parts of the state.
The Central government had earlier announced that the CAA would not apply to the ILP and the Tribal Autonomous District Council (TADC) areas.
In the northeastern states, there are 10 TADCs, constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.