Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Bamang Felix hopes protest on CAB issue will be peaceful

Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Bamang Felix on Tuesday said that the state's student leaders are satisfied with the centre's decision of keeping the state out of the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 and hoped that the protest against the Bill, which is being held today, will be purely symbolic in nature.

"As per my knowledge, the Arunachal Pradesh students' organisations leaders are happy that Arunachal Pradesh has been kept out of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill purview. They are just participating in the protest to express solidarity with the wider North-eastern umbrella organisations. I appeal that law and order is maintained and peace is maintained in the state during the protest," Felix told reporters here.

"The state government involved all stakeholders in discussions on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019. The state government opposed the 2016 form of the bill. We conveyed this to the central government. Home minister Amit Shah called us for a meeting where he gave an assurance that Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will not have an effect on Arunachal Pradesh," he added.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was passed with a majority of 311 votes against 80 votes in Lok Sabha where 391 members were present and voting.

The bill will be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, according to sources.

It seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.