Centre May Exempt Northeast States From Citizenship Bill Purview: Sources

Most of the northeast states are likely to be exempted from the purview of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), sources in the central government have told NDTV. The legislation, after getting cleared in parliament, will simplify norms to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"View point of the government after consultation with the National Security Council is that most of the hill states in the northeast are going to be exempted in CAB," a Union Minister told NDTV.

Some sixth schedule area, including Bodo Territorial council and autonomous districts in the region, will be out of the purview of the bill, the Minister said.

The states where the bill will not be applicable includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram and some parts of Assam.

The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who come to India after facing religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, without proper documents.

The bill was passed in Lok Sabha earlier this year but was stalled in the Upper House of parliament, amid massive protests in the northeast. Several of the BJP's allies had also joined the opposition in slamming the legislation. The bill had lapsed before the national election in May.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed his second successive government, the BJP had expressed its intentions to bring the bill in the Lok Sabha again.

Earlier this month, protests against the bill were renewed in several states after the centre listed it to be tabled in parliament during the ongoing winter session.

"The government is going to respect the sentiments of people in that region and also wants to protect the demography and culture of the region," the Minister explained.

BJP's northeast allies recently demanded that the BJP should conduct wider consultations before tabling the bill. Giving in to their demands, Union Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to hold talks with organisations, chief ministers and political parties of northeast states in the national election on Friday.