Manipur Congress delegation meets Rajnath to protest citizenship law amendment

New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) A delegation from Congress' Manipur unit on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submitted a memorandum demanding scrapping of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 and making public the framework agreement signed between the government and NSCN-IM.

The 25-member delegation led by former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh also sought appointment from President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi but did not get it. They marched from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhawan but could not meet the President.

"We came here (Delhi) to submit a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister regarding three issues. One is about framework agreement signed between government of India and NSCN-IM. Another is citizenship amendment bill 2016

"The third issue is about the Vice-Chancellor of Manipur University," Ibobi Singh told reporters.

"If the citizenship bill is amended, there will be huge impact, particularly in northest because it will become dumping ground of all those citizens who are coming from Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan," he said.

Ibobi Singh said the bill should be withdrawn straight away. "We cannot accept it. We will fight it tooth and nail. This bill cannot be passed by the Parliament," he said.

He also demanded that the framework agreement signed between the Central government and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah must be made public. "What are contents of that framework agreement, no one knows. Till today it has not been disclosed. Why has it been kept as a confidential document by the government," he asked.

"This is a huge problem for Manipur. Interlocutor R. N. Ravi said the framework agreement is in its final stage. So, one bill could be passed in the Parliament during the monsoon session....

"So we want to know what are the contents of the framework agreement. Without consulting the state concerned and the people of Manipur, we cannot accept it. It should be scrapped otherwise," he added.

On the third issue, he said: "For the last nearly one month, there is an unrest in Manipur University. The students are not attending classes, they have totally stopped the functioning of the university."