KOHIMA — Protesting the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, of 2019, the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) and Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) burned copies of the CAA Rules at the Naga Solidarity Park, Kohima on Tuesday.
The protest was prompted by the notification of the CAA Rules by the central government on March 11. Since the controversial Act was passed by the Parliament on Dec. 11, 2019, it has faced strong opposition from various quarters, particularly student organisations in the north-east, spearheaded by NESO.
During Tuesday’s protest, NESO general secretary, Mutsikhoyo Yhobu asserted the biggest threat to the tribal population today is the influx of illegal immigrants.
While Nagaland and some of the north-eastern states covered by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, are exempted from the CAA, as long as Assam and Tripura-- the two corridors of the influx of illegal immigrants—are under the purview of the Act, it is affecting the entire north-east region, he contended.
Yhobu maintained that the provisions of the CAA “is going to finish the indigenous inhabitants” of the region, citing demographic shifts in Tripura where the indigenous people have become minorities and in Assam where only around 30 to 35 per cent of the population are said to be indigenous.
In Nagaland’s Dimapur, the population ratio of the Nagas might be 20 to 25 per cent, he claimed.
He called upon the north-eastern state governments to support the student bodies in their fight against the CAA, stating that while student bodies may lack the power to oppose the central government alone, collective action with state governments could compel the central government to listen.
Meanwhile, NSF president Medovi Rhi said that the federation has been observing ‘black day’ since 2019 and had carried out protests after the Act was passed in the Parliament.
Now with the CAA rules being implemented, the student bodies have to be more careful, streamline illegal immigrants, and pressure the state government, he said.
Tribunal general and former NSF president, Kegwayhun Tep, said the CAA is against secularism and termed the implementation of the Act as “saddening and against the will of the people.”
The symbolic protest was held to show solidarity to those states that comes under the purview of CAA, he said, maintaining that the Act is a threat to the existence of indigenous people and the entire north-eastern states as it would negatively impact the geo-political settings.
Federating units of the NSF were also present at the protest site.