Mylliem MDC Ronnie Lyngdoh has maintained that the Congress Party is strongly opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is highly controversial in the North East and other parts of India, though for differing reasons.
Although it was put on the backburner with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, recently Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that the CAA will be implemented once the pandemic ends.
Popular with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s votebase, it is controversial in the North East, as political parties, pressure groups and others fear that it will allow mass settlement of non-Muslim Bangladeshis in the region. In the rest of India, opposition to the CAA centres on its perceived discrimination towards Muslims.
Stating that the CAA is meant to trample on minorities, Lyngdoh said that it is part of the BJP’s plan to make India one nation with one religion.
He said that this is against the spirit of Article 25 of the Constitution where every citizen of the country is guaranteed the right to freedom of religion.
Stating that the CAA, which was rushed through Parliament on the back of the BJP’s comfortable majority, should be abolished, he said, “I want the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo people to not be duped by money power or by any other means during the state election (in 2023).”
Giving in to the lure of money will be a betrayal to present and future generations, he added.
