GUWAHATI: A series of fresh protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 were launched in Manipur’s Imphal Valley on Sunday.
People came out in large numbers in many areas and shouted slogans denouncing the Bill which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to “persecuted” immigrants belonging to six non-Muslim communities who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to make a statement on the controversial Bill in Parliament on Monday. The protestors in Manipur, as well as Assam, fear the Bill might be tabled and passed during the ongoing winter session of the House.
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The Manipur People Against CAB (MANPAC) is spearheading the protests in the Imphal Valley. Opposition Congress, Left parties and other political parties have already issued statements rejecting the Bill.
“Demographic invasion and elimination of the indigenous people of Manipur and the Northeast will be possible only when the Citizenship Bill becomes an Act. Through this Bill, the BJP is sowing a seed to implant a non-Manipuri as the Chief Minister of Manipur, with half of the MLAs as non-Manipuris, by 2037,” the Congress in the state said in a statement.
The protestors have announced that all activities would be suspended from Sunday midnight to December 11, 3 am.