GUWAHATI, Dec 26 - The North East Students� Organisation (NESO), the umbrella body of students� organisations of the states of the region, has called for preparation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in all the states of the North East to identify the foreigners living illegally in the region.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa said that for years, successive governments at the Centre failed to deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, which was posing a threat to the identity of the indigenous people of the North East.
He said that the urgent need of the hour is to prepare NRC in all the states of the North East. However, he said that the cut-off date for preparation of NRC may vary from state to state depending on the history and uniqueness of each state.
The NESO has also been demanding that Inner Line Permit (ILP) system should be introduced in all the states of the region to protect the interests of the indigenous people.
It may be mentioned here that the high-level committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord had also advocated introduction of ILP in Assam.
Meanwhile, Jyrwa asserted that the NESO would continue to strongly oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. He pointed out that instead of taking effective steps to deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, the Government of India brought in the CAA, which posed another threat to the indigenous people of the region. The NESO observed �black day� all over the region on December 11 to protest against the CAA.
Jyrwa said that the constituent organisations of the NESO are strongly registering their protest in their respective states against the CAA. He said that the NESO would meet in the beginning of next year to chalk out a strategy for launching region-wide protests against the CAA.
The anti-CAA protests, which slowed down due to the lockdown imposed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, gained ground again as various organisations including the student bodies have started to launch protests against the Act, and the NESO chairman asserted that there was no question of accepting the Act.
He said the Government of India should respect the sentiments of the people of the North East and scrap the CAA. �The NESO has been opposing the Act since 2016 when the Bill was first introduced and it will continue to register strong protest against the Act till it is scrapped,� he asserted.
