Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Thursday said that if it was not of the strong opposition by the Congress against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, it would have been passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
“The whole country has seen how Congress has stood firm in its commitment to protect the interest of the nation in general and interest of the people of northeast especially the microscopic ethnic groups,” he said.
Stating that the nation has witnessed as to how Congress was the only party which ultimately kept the nation together, Sangma said, “The proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was bulldozed in Lok Sabha because they have the majority despite the protest before the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha because Congress led opposition was there in Rajya Sabha to prevent the leadership government of the day from proceeding ahead with their intent to pass this Bill.”
The leader of opposition in Meghalaya assembly said that the Congress-led united opposition stood firm and remained as a wall as the BJP was determined to pass the bill despite “tamasha threat” from their allies to snap ties with the NDA.
“People have to know one part, the BAC of Rajya Sabha decided that this bill should not be brought in because it is controversial and going to create problem and cause disturbances in the whole Northeast. Inspite of that, they again bulldozed and brought in supplementary list to introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha and they could not pass the Bill because of the firm commitment of the Congress in defending the nation and defend the interest of the people,” Sangma said.
On the allies of BJP-led NDA and partners of the BJP-led NEDA, Sangma said, “they shamelessly tell the people that we are with you, but they are not with us. This is simple, they should show that they are with us and not with the BJP. If these parties are with the people of the Northeast, they cannot be with the BJP. But they are and have been with the BJP even when the Bill was bulldozed and passed in the Lok Sabha. That was the time that they should say ‘good bye’ because the anti people agenda is going to be disastrous for the nation. But these people are power-hungry and should somehow cling to power..”
“Whether BJP CM in Assam, BJP CM or ministers in Assam, Nagaland CM. The MP from Nagaland has voted for this bill in Lok Sabha and those who are part of NEDA are for this bill including the Arunachal CM who said that Arunachal will not have problem because there is ILP. All these partners are still part of NEDA. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They should show their true colour on the day when the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha but these shameless people have exposed their true colour. I must say these are the Judas who have betrayed the people of the Northeast,” he further stated.
On National People’s Party’s decision to move out of NDA if the Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, Sangma said, “they know that the Congress is in Rajya Sabha and we have told the nation that the Congress would show in strongest term. We have told everybody that let them come to Rajya Sabha and we will defeat, and we have defeated them today. If Congress was not there, they would have bulldozed and this is what the BJP wants. I have been reminding the people that the BJP wanted to rule the states because it also wanted to have majority in Rajya Sabha.”
