Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday left for New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urge upon him to put in strong measures to ensure protection of Meghalaya following the passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the parliament.
There were protests in the state since Monday after the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with lone National People’s Party Lok Sabha member Agatha Sangma supported the controversial bill.
Conrad Sangma was accompanied by a team of his cabinet ministers and senior members of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government. On Wednesday, the chief minister along with other ministers met Governor Tathagata Roy urging to give his assent to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Ordinance and bring Administrator’s Rule in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council.
“A team of cabinet ministers would meet the home minister and urge upon the centre to find provisions to keep strengthening so that more insulation can be given to the people of the state,” Sangma said.
“We wanted that Meghalaya as a whole should be exempted from the CAB and would again discuss this with the home minister,” the chief minister said.
On the demand of enforcing the Inner Line Permit in the state, Sangma said that the government has been discussing with different organizations and the government also has been debating on this issue internally.
“We also have an ordinance in which the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act is being amended. The provisions made by the state are within our control and if the ordinance is approved, it will be a mechanism which will serve the same purpose like an ILP,” he said.
Sangma said the governor has assured to take a call on the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Ordinance, after listening to all clarifications that the government has given on issue related to the Ordinance.
“The governor sought some clarifications during the discussions and all doubts were cleared,” he said.
