Citizenship Bill: Amit Shah holds meet with Northeast CMs, civil society

Union Home Minister Amit Shah met leaders of political parties, student bodies and civil society groups of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya on Saturday (November 30) and held discussions on the contours of the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), sources said.

The meetings were attended by chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya Sarbananda Sonowal, Pema Khandu and Conrad Sangma respectively, Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju and several MPs among others.

Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that things are moving in the right direction after Shah met political parties and civil society members of Tripura and Mizoram for four hours on Friday night.

“Union Home Minister Sri @AmitShah on Friday consulted political parties and civil society organisations of Tripura & Mizoram for over 4 hrs on proposed #CAB. Today he will discuss it with delegations from Assam, Meghalaya & Arunachal Pradesh. Things are moving in right direction,” Sarma tweeted.

The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who come to India due to religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan even if they don’t possess proper documents.

The home minister is holding the series of meetings on Friday, Saturday and on December 3 in the wake of strong protests in the Northeast against the CAB.

(With inputs from agencies)