Members of the Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC) met chief minister N. Biren Singh at 4pm on Sunday.
They told him that the citizenship bill can not be applied to the Northeast and reaffirmed their stand that there would be no let up in their agitation if the bill was passed in Parliament. On Saturday, the organisation was peeved with Union home minister Amit Shah for not getting an invitation from the Centre to share its concern over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Emerging out of the chief minister’s secretariat on Sunday, MANPAC convener Yumnamcha Dilipkumar said: “We met the chief minister and told him that the state government should put up strong resistance and tell the Centre that under no circumstances the bill can be applied to the Northeast.”
“Biren Singh said Shah had asked him about the possibility of impact of the bill if it is introduced in the state. The state government also urged him to insert a clause or sort out a mechanism to protect Manipur from the bill.”
“We feel that at such a crucial juncture — when the bill is going to be tabled for discussion in Parliament during its ongoing winter session — not inviting us to the meeting tantamounts to violation of legitimate rights of the people. Even if the bill is passed, we will stick to our stand and continue the agitation,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the MANPAC held a meeting of 88 consultant partners in the group at Amuco office to discuss future course of action and made a representation to Biren Singh in the evening. They resolved to take appropriate action after consulting other stakeholders in the Northeast.
Exams postponed
The directorate of secondary education, Tripura, has postponed the pre-board exams of classes X and XII in schools under the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council in view of the bandh called by Tipraland State Party (TSP) on Monday, seeking scrapping of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
A notification issued on Saturday by director of secondary education, Tripura, U.K. Chakma, said: “In view of the bandh called by a regional political party on Monday in areas under the TTAADC , it is hereby decided to reschedule the school-based examination to avoid any untoward incident.”
The English papers of classes X and XII are postponed to December 19 while the sociology and statistics exams of class IX students are deferred to December 6. All three papers were scheduled to be held on Monday from 11.30am to 2.30pm.
Additional reporting by Tanmoy Chakraborty in Agartala