Kohima, January 13 (MExN): The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 to provide ‘citizenship’ to certain section of immigrants whereas the Inner Line Permit (ILP) only provides ‘access’ to outsiders for inward travel into Nagaland.
Naga People’s Front Legislature Party Spokesperson, Imkong L Imchen, argued this while responding to a speech made by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio at a festival in Tuensang where the latter reportedly claimed that “Nagas and Nagaland are protected under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873 and the ILP regulations.”
“The ILP derived from the BEFR, 1873 also known as Regulation 5 of 1873 is in operation in Nagaland but does not protect the Nagas, their identity and interest in the way Neiphiu Rio makes it appear,” stated Imchen in a Communique circulated to the press today.
The commercial hub of the State, Dimapur, for instance, he noted, is not under the ambit of the ILP regulations which has been “flooded” by “undocumented immigrants” but which is also the case, in his assessment, in the “most interior parts of the State.”
Further, he asked people to note that “the draft Bill of the Citizenship Amendment Bill was introduced in July, 2016 when Neiphiu Rio was the lone MP representing Nagaland in the Lok Sabha and passed when Tokheho Yepthomi of the NDPP Party represented the State.”
While the Leader of Opposition, TR Zeliang, has not received any clarification from the Chief Minister yet to his letter dated July 16, 2018, on the same issue, the NPF Legislature Party Spokesperson also alleged that the contentious Bill was “listed by the Assembly Secretariat for discussion on the floor of the House as requested by NPF MLAs which however was denied time by the Speaker.”
Maintaining that the State Cabinet decisions of June 5, 2018, and January 7 this year were “taken out of compulsion to gratify the NDA Government at the cost of the Naga people,” Imkong L Imchen stated that “on the resolution of the State Cabinet to discuss the matter with all political parties in the State, the NPF Legislature Party declares that it will not be party to such unintelligent proposition at any cost.”
Meanwhile MLAs Vikheho Swu and Er. Picto Shohe in a separate press statement appealed to the people of Nagaland to “speak out against the inaction of this handicapped PDA government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.”
“This bill which will in time become the biggest threat to the indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and the Northeast in general is being passed without the slightest of opposition from the Government of Nagaland,” they stated.
Questioning if the “PDA government an NDPP led government or is it BJP led government?” the two legislators asked the NDPP leadership to “ponder on its alliance and introspect on how the government is functioning and under whose direction and dictate.”
