NELECC demands ordinance on Citizenship Bill, hands over memorandum to V.K. Singh

February 28: It is in this backdrop that the North East Linguistic and Ethnic Coordination Committee (NELECC) on Wednesday demanded Citizenship Amendment Act by way of promulgating an ordinance ahead of dissolution of Lok Sabha and the impending lapse of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

NELECC on Wednesday handed over a memorandum to Union Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh at Silchar. Dr. Singh is also the former Army Chief of India. The delegation requested Dr. V.K. Singh to urge upon the union government to promulgate an ordinance under Article 123 in this regard.

In the said memorandum, NELECC raised wrote “Lakhs of people of the state of Assam are having serious apprehension as to the inclusion of their names in the NRC of Assam and thereby by being in every danger of being declared foreigners and STATELESS.”

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8. But subseqy, it was not tabled by the government in the Rajya Sabha. The Budget session was the last Parliament session of the present government. Bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha lapse.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from the centre on a plea challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The PIL opposed the bill on the ground that it had introduced religion as a new principle into the citizenship law and termed it as “communally motivated humanitarianism”. The plea further claimed that the bill had the potential to “derail and nullify” the gains made by updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.