India
He assured that it was the responsibility of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect the people.
Updated : Dec 15, 2019, 12:54 PM IST | Edited by : Joydeep Bose
Hinting that there could be productive discussions on some of the requested changes in the controversial Citizenship Act, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that he will talk to Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on the matter.
Shah was addressing a public rally in Jharkhand's Giridih on Saturday when he said that he wanted to assure the people of Assam and other states of the Northeast that their culture, language, social identity and political rights will be not be affected by the Citizenship Act. The Home Minister added that since several politicians from the Northeast, including Meghalaya CM Sangma and his cabinet ministers, have expressed their request to change certain provisions in the Act, a meeting after Christmas could be held to figure out a "constructive solution" for Meghalaya.
"Yesterday, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma and his cabinet ministers met me to discuss the issue. They said there is a problem in Meghalaya. I tried to make them understand that there is no issue. Yet, they requested me to change something (in the act). I have asked Sangma Ji to come to me when he is free after Christmas and we can think of a constructive a solution for Meghalaya. Nobody has anything to fear,” he said.
#WATCH HM Amit Shah in J'khand y'day: Abhi CAB aya hai... Kal Meghalaya CM mujhe mile,unka aagreh tha ki kuch parivartan karne padenge. Maine unhe kaha hai ki aaram se beth kar sakaratmak roop se soch kar Meghalaya ki samasya ka samadhan nikalenge. Kisi ko darne ki zaroorat nahi pic.twitter.com/0LAQTFbYQL
— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2019
Further, Home Minister Amit Shah took the opportunity to diss the Congress for instigating violence in the Northeast, alleging that the grand old party had for years played communal politics and encouraged evils like Naxalism and terrorism. He said that when the Narendra Modi government takes a strong stand against terrorism, the Congress accuses it of vote bank politics and appeasement while branding important steps like Triple Talaq ban, Article 370 abrogation and Citizenship Act as 'anti-minority'.
He assured that it was the responsibility of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect the people.
Several from the Northeast have claimed that the bill endangers the native identity of the indigenous people. The claim has, in turn, been refuted by BJP leaders.
Assam has been witnessing violent protests in the wake of the CAB getting the nod of the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. PM Modi has assured the people of Assam that they need not worry due to the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill as the government is committed to protecting the rights, unique culture, identity of the Assamese people.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act aims to provide for Indian citizenship to the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of the current mandatory stay of 11 years even if they do not possess any document.