Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that Manipur would be brought under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime. He also reassured that no provision of Article 371 would be violated by the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019.
“The issue should be seen as a humanitarian one, beyond political ideologies,” Shah said.
He made the announcement while moving the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha for its passage.
The minister said the provisions of the amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955, which was enacted to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship, would not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under “The Inner Line” notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
Stating that implementation of ILP in Manipur has been a dream and a long-standing demand of the people of the state, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that people should thank the central government for their concerns for the state. The state government issued an order asking all employees to celebrate the decision by carrying photographs of PM and HM.
The bill, he said, also seeks to amend the Third Schedule to the Act to make applicants belonging to the six minority communities from the three countries eligible for citizenship by naturalisation if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of the existing 11 years.
The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India after facing persecution on grounds of religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, if they fulfil conditions for grant of citizenship.
