AGARTALA, Feb 2 - Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has strongly defended the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, contending that it is meant for the entire country and not for the North Eastern region alone.
The way some political parties have been agitating against the Bill, it appears the Bill has been prepared and passed in the Lok Sabha only for North East India, which is far from the truth, he told media persons at the Civil Secretariat here last night.
For the first time, the Chief Minister made a statement on the Bill to play down the �united fight� by the indigenous people led by the State�s royal scion, Pradyot Kishore Deb Barma.
�In India, an individual or a political outfit has the right to agitate on any decision or move of the Government, but what is happening in the North East over the Citizenship Bill is an attempt to fool the people,� he alleged.
Deb stated that metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai are the worst affected by infiltration, while Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are also facing the problem of illegal immigration. �There is no problem with the Citizenship Bill. The North East is facing a lot of problems. It seems political parties of the region are trying to fish in troubled waters. It is not wise to take political advantage of everything,� he said.
In Tripura, the present Government is committed to making the State modern and self-reliant by arranging jobs for every household. �We are working in the right direction,� Deb said.
The Chief Minister also welcomed the Union Budget by stating that it was aimed at making a new India. �The 21 per cent increase in the budgetary outlay for the North East region is a revolutionary step by the Narendra Modi-led Union Government,� he said.
Deb said the North East had long been neglected by the successive Congress-led governments, while it was Narendra Modi who had brought the region closer to Delhi during the past four-and-a-half years.
