Centre to meet NE chief ministers on bill .... Call follows meeting of BJP allies.... Families of Assam Agitation martyrs return BJP govt's awards

UDP leader Donkupar Roy, Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma, AGP president Atul Bora and his party colleagues, Keshab Mahanta and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, at the meeting in Guwahati on Tuesday Picture by UB Photos

TT, Guwahati: The Centre has invited the chief ministers of the Northeast for talks on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Friday, after 10 political parties from the region, most of them allies of the ruling BJP, met here and unanimously opposed the “anti-Northeast” bill.

Sources in the Meghalaya chief minister’s office in Shillong told The Telegraph that the ministry of home affairs called the resident commissioner, Meghalaya House, in New Delhi, on Wednesday and invited chief minister Conrad Sangma for talks on the bill, which has seen widespread protests in the region since December.

“Similar calls were made to other chief ministers of the region on Wednesday. The meeting will be held at 3pm on Friday,” the source said.

The convention on the bill held at a hotel here on Tuesday saw 11 parties joining forces to “strongly oppose” the bill and to meet and convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind to get the bill scrapped.

The parties were the AGP, National Peoples’ Party (NPP), Mizo National Front (MNF), National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), United Democratic Party (UDP), Indigenous People Front of Tripura (IPFT), Hill State Peoples Democratic Party (HSPDP), Peoples Democratic Front (PDF), Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF) and the Northeast zone of the JDU.

Barring the AGP and NPF, others are allies of the BJP.

The convention was attended by two chief ministers, Sangma and Mizoram’s Zoramthanga, two former chief ministers, Nagaland’s T.R. Zeliang and Assam’s Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, besides party presidents and general secretaries of the parties like the AGP’s Atul Bora.

The Centre’s invitation comes a day ahead of the budget session of Parliament starting on Thursday, where the Centre is expected to push the bill in the Rajya Sabha after having passed it in the Lok Sabha early this month.

The resolutions adopted by the convention to “protect the region and its people” and take appropriate steps if the Centre pushed the bill through could have rattled the Centre, party sources said.

“The ministry meeting is a result of Tuesday’s convention. The BJP cannot antagonise its allies, more so in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. It has already lost the AGP and the NPF. The Centre will clarify its stand on the bill,” an AGP office-bearer said.

The political parties, till the time of filing this report, had not got an appointment with the Prime Minister for Friday.

They had formally moved the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday, soon after the convention.

MHA spokesperson Ashok Prasad had said every application for citizenship would be thoroughly inquired into by the deputy commissioner or district magistrate, and submitted to the state government, which will also conduct an inquiry through its agencies and submit its recommendations to the Centre.

No one will get citizenship without the state government’s recommendations, Prasad had said.

Family members of Assam Agitation martyrs in Guwahati on Wednesday with the mementos gifted to them by the state government. (PTI)

Abdul Gani, TT, Guwahati, 31 January 2019: The families of the martyrs of Assam Agitation have returned the awards which were given to them as a mark of honour by the BJP government in 2016. They said they felt “insulted” when the BJP-led government decided to go ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

“It’s enough. We have realised that the BJP government, led by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, has no intention of withdrawing the bill, but is more focused on passing it. Under such circumstances, we cannot sit silently. They (the government) have no respect for the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to make the state free of illegal migrants,” said Chandrakanta Talukdar, younger brother of Khargeswar Talukdar — the first martyr among the 855 who died in the six-year Assam Agitation that started in 1979 .

The Assam Accord was signed after the agitation in 1985, which fixed March 25 of 1971 as the cut-off date irrespective of religion, caste and creed. The groups and organisations, who have been opposing the bill unanimously, agreed to this cut-off date.

Talukdar, the general secretary of Sadou Asom Jatiya Swahid Pariyal Somonnorokhyi Parishad (All Assam Martyrs’ Families Coordination Council), said on Wednesday that 76 families of the martyrs have returned their mementos to the deputy commissioner’s office here.

“As members of the central committee of the council and district representatives, we have returned the mementos. Gradually, the other families will follow suit across the state,” Talukdar said.

The council’s president, Rajen Deka, was also present during the event. 

The family members of the martyrs will also take part in the agitation. Deka said they had already written to Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

“We waited thinking that Sonowal would strongly oppose the bill. But it is sad to see his weak stand and silence over the matter. We have already sent a memorandum to him, demanding a discussion with us. But that did not happen. Very soon, we will go to Delhi to meet the top leaders and ministers,” he said.

The AGP, which is an outcome of the agitation, too, supported the cause of the family members. “We are with them. It is very unfortunate that the government has not understood the value of their sacrifice. We are with families of the martyrs at every step,” said AGP president Atul Bora outside the Assembly.

Just after coming to power, the BJP-led Assam government had decided to honour the families of the martyrs on December 10 in 2016 with a grand reception at Khanapara.

The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution even if they do not provide the required documents.