11 northeastern political parties oppose Citizenship Bill; appeal to scrap legislation

Eleven northeastern political parties came together on Tuesday against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and decided to appeal to the Central government to scrap the legislation.

The parties from seven states excluding Sikkim participated in a two-day convention and unanimously decided to oppose the Bill that seeks to grant citizenship to migrants from six non-Muslim minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the convener of the convention, said the parties will send a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind seeking a scrapping of the Bill which will "endanger the lives and identity of the indigenous people".

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8.