ITANAGAR, Nov 14: North East Students’ Organization (NESO) has announced series of agitations to demand total withdrawal of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, Foreigner (Amendment) Order 2015, Passport Notification 2015 and long term visa.
NESO has also demanded preparation of National Register of Citizens for all the states of the North East Region.
The first protest will be organized on November 20 in Guwahati, followed by state capitals of the region on Nov 30. A protest rally will be organized in New Delhi at the beginning of the Parliament session.
NESO said that proposed bill and others are imposed by the government of India on the people of North East to protect the interest of the Bangladeshis who enter India illegally.
The Bill, Order, Notification is “a threat to the language, culture, identity of the Indigenous people of North East. NESO would like to warn the government of India that at any atmosphere NESO and people of North East will not accept this Bill, Order, Notification. North East is not a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis”, said the students organisation.
“The Organization remains seriously concerned with problem of illegal immigration. The problem is creating all kinds of social tensions and anxieties in the states. Tripura has already lost its tribal identity. The illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are on the verge of outnumbering the indigenous population of Assam in near future”, it said in a statement.
NESO while welcoming the preparation of the updated NRC in Assam on the basis of the Assam Accord, expressed its concern that “various attempts are being made to sabotage the entire process of preparing the NRC in Assam”.
The Organisation said that state governments should initiate measures to prepare the NRC in each state.
“The state governments must fix the modalities after discussion with respective students’ body of the states. The process should start immediately”, it said.
It further said that the organizations have noticed disturbing machinations of the Union government to encourage further illegal immigration from Bangladesh.
“The Union government notified the Foreigners’ (Amendment) Order 2015 and the Passport (Entry into India) Notification 2015. The two notifications have been given the shape of a Bill known as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016”, it said.
“All the steps have been taken to protect the illegal Hindu Bangladeshis who entered illegally into the North East Region along with the other parts of the country till 31 December 2014. All the measures are communal in character, and therefore unconstitutional”, the students said adding that illegal foreigner is a foreigner irrespective of religion.
“The attempts to sabotage the process of preparing the NRC for Assam will severely erode our NRC demand for each of the states of North East. We sense a political design of the Union government to kill our demand for NRC for the entire North East region” it said.
NESO asked the state governments of the region to reject the Bill through Cabinet decisions as done by Mizoram and Meghalaya governments.
NESO comprises of Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), Twipra Students’ Federation (TSF), All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), Garo Students’ Union (GSU) and All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) representing eight major students’ movements of the seven states of the North East Region.
