Ahead of Amit Shah’s visit, northeast organisations warn of anti-CAA stir

Home Minister’s visit to Assam from May 9 coincides with the completion of one year of the Himanta Biswa Sarma government

Various organisations in the northeast have threatened to resume their agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of 2019 if the Centre tries to implement it.

The warning has been sounded ahead of Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day tour of Assam from May 9 for a slew of events coinciding with the completion of one year of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government.

The government headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in on May 10, 2021.

In Meghalaya capital Shillong, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) said any attempt to implement the CAA would lead to unrest in the State. The Centre, instead, should implement the inner-line permit system in Meghalaya to check the entry of “illegal immigrants”.

The inner-line permit is a temporary travel document issued according to an 1873 regulation. This permit requires Indians to possess one while entering four States of the northeast – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

“We will always oppose the CAA, pandemic or no pandemic,” KSU president Lambokstar Marngar told journalists in Shillong while reacting to Mr. Shah’s statement during his visit to West Bengal that the CAA will be implemented once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.