The Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Saturday voiced strong opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, saying the party stands for the sake of the future generation.
In a release, the press bureau of NPF said the party adopted a “political resolution” to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB)/CAA and that it will stand by its resolution.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) became an Act after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bill on December 12, 2019.
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The CAA came into effect from January 10, 2020, through a Gazette notification.
The party said it was convinced that the stand adopted by it is “politically correct” as it could foresee the danger looming large for the future generation if the CAA is enforced.
The NPF said the CAB/CAA is not only against the principle enshrined in its party constitution but also totally against the spirit of secularism as envisage in the Constitution of India.
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The party’s stand on the issue is clear as granting of citizenship of India cannot be on religious line, the release said.
It said the CAB/CAA is nothing but purely a “politics of divide”.
The party challenged the Naga people who supported the CAA to come out clean and declare their stand openly.
It said it will not act from behind the screen and will go against this CAA for the sake of future generation.
The party said the very existence of the indigenous people of the Northeast region will be at stake “unless we take a strong measure against infiltration of illegal migrants unitedly”.
Future of the people of the Northeast in general and Nagaland, in particular, will be at risk because of the CAA, though the Centre has tried to convince the Naga people and the region by saying that it had incorporated certain clause in the Act to exempt the region, it said.
It said the CAA will open the floodgate for a particular religious community to enter India and slowly flood the Northeast region, including Nagaland, in due course of time.
The NPF also said it had suspended its Rajya Sabha MP K.G. Kenye for violating the party resolution to oppose the CAB by voting in favour of the Bill in the Upper House.