BJP may promulgate ordinance on Citizenship Bill before Lok Sabha polls

The opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) Monday expressed apprehension that the BJP led central government might promulgavote bankdinance on the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill just before the Lok Sabha election to strengthen the votebank of the saffron party.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is not acceptable and it would be opposed tooth and nail in whichever form it comes in future, NPF spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said.

"The BJP government, which is hell bent in implementing the Bill, would try to bring it as an ordinance just before the elections as the BJP is trying to increase its vote base," Kikon said at a panel discussion on the Bill.

Reiterating his party's stand to oppose the Bill till the end, he claimed that Assam and Tripura have been facing the consequences of illegal immigrants as they have out-numbered the indigenous inhabitants.

Kikon said the Centre is planning to "dump illegal immigrants into the North East" and "granting citizenship on religious grounds is wrong."

The contentious Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

A largescale protest broke out in the Northeastern states as the indigenous people of the region were apprehending that if the bill was enacted, it would endanger their livelihood and identity.

The bill, being vehemently opposed in the region even by certain allies of the BJP, was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. However, it is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Another panellist, Naga Hoho president P Chuba Ozukum said, "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has become a threat for the Nagas and the people of North East in general because once it becomes a law, we won't be able to save ourselves."

Naga Hoho is the apex tribal body of the Nagas.

Even the Article 371(A) of the Constitution and the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system would not be able to save the Nagas, Ozukum said.

The Article 371(A) deals with certain special provisions for Nagaland.

Former Nagaland minister Merentoshi R Jamir and others also took part in the panel discussion.