Students and civil society members staged protests and shouted slogans opposing Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Imphal on October 3.
Police stopped the students from coming out in the streets which led to a stand-off. The students from most of the educational institutes came out in front of their schools and put up festoons denouncing the decision of the central government to pass the controversial CAB in the Parliament.
The students said, if the bill is passed, the indigenous populace will become minorities in their own states. They cited the example of Tripura where the “indigenous people have become a minority and the entire political and economic powers and privileges taken away by people from Bangladesh”.
The students said, they were supporting the decision of Manipur People Against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, (MANPAC) to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
The first Central Executive Council (CEC) of (North East Forum for Indigenous People) NEFIP held at Kohima on September 25 had also resolved to launch mass agitation from October 3 in the entire region.
Manipur had already experienced turmoil over the influx of large numbers of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and the Congress party also announced its opposition to the CAB.
