Meghalaya Cabinet passes resolution against citizenship bill, BJP members support

The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance cabinet, which has two BJP ministers, has passed a resolution opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, as the saffron party's leadership in the state asserted they were "with the indigenous people" on the proposed legislation.

The Cabinet passed the resolution during a meeting on Thursday.

The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.

"We are with the people of the state. The state cabinet had unanimously passed a resolution to oppose the Bill and we are part of the government," Health Minister and BJP MLA A L Hek said.

Asked if he would resign from the BJP on the issue, he said, "No question". "People have voted for me. They have entrusted me with responsibilities as their representative and I will continue to serve in that capacity."
Roy, who is also the speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, told PTI, "There is a great danger in accepting the Bill in its current form, and if it's implemented in the frontier states of the North East, particularly in Meghalaya."
He said, "The Bill would open the gates for illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to come into the state and in the northeast. We do not want the indigenous population to become a minority in our own state."
The speaker demanded the state and the northeast region be exempt from implementing the proposed legislation "going by the sentiments of the indigenous people."