The Nagaland PCC on Wednesday said the BJP’s assurance that the state was protected by the inner-line permit (ILP) and out of the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), was false.

Strongly condemning repeated statements by Nagaland BJP president and minister Temjen Imna Along on the CAA, the PCC, in a statement, said he had got his facts wrong when he said “Nagaland is under the Sixth Schedule.”

“This only shows Along’s ignorance and also his eagerness to indulge in talking without ascertaining facts. It is unbecoming of a person holding high position in a party as well as in the government,” the PCC said.

During his re-election as the state BJP president on January 14, Along said the CAA would not affect Nagaland as the state was protected under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The PCC said “half-truths and whole lies” had become the hallmark of the BJP to force their divisive agenda on the people.

“It is the BJP which has politicised the CAA by making religion the ground for getting citizenship. It is an assault on the liberal ideas and pluralism of India,” it said.

The PCC added exemption from the CAA based on the ILP is just a ploy to divide the Northeast.

It said despite having ILP for several decades, the state government had not been able to check influx of illegal migrants.

The PCC added that the fall-out of the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in neighbouring Assam and other parts of the country would open the floodgates for those who would quietly settle down in the midst of tribals.

It also said that Article 371A, which makes Nagaland the most secure state in the country, was not the BJP’s contribution.