The Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Tuesday called for taking a strong stand against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying it would be of no use to argue over merits and demerits of the Act at this juncture.

NPF president Shurhozelie Liezietsu, in a statement, said people of the Northeast in general and the Nagas in particular “must understand the true colour of the CAA with long term perspective”.

He said those who supported and passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill in both Houses of Parliament recently may like to put forth many points like incorporation of inner-line permit (ILP) in the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 in the CAA, exemption of Nagaland from it, introduction of ILP in Manipur, among others.

“All these are to cover up the real motive behind the CAA,” Liezietsu said. According to him, the effect of CAA will come very slowly in the form of “population politics”.

“People will not feel the pain instantly, but it will develop with very low intensity and without much awareness for a long time. It will keep on increasing its impact and intensity year by year in due course of time. We know that people will not feel the effect in a year or two,” Liezietsu said.

He expressed apprehension that the CAA might uproot the very existence of the people of Northeast unless they took a strong stand and went against it.

Maintaining that the CAA was brought in purely on religious lines based on the theory of “one nation, one religion”, Liezietsu called it a “single-track minded action” to promote the interest of one particular religion.

“To destroy this unity in diversity is to destroy the greatness of India. It is most unfortunate that the people in power in Delhi today are destroying this very foundation of democracy and the greatness of India. Indians who stand for democracy and secularism are very much agitated today,” Liezietsu said.

He added that the Naga people were ashamed of what was done by some of their leaders in supporting this process of destroying democracy of the country.

“We stand to support the secularism of the country,” he said. Liezietsu challenged the Nagas who supported the CAA to declare their stand openly.