Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Wednesday said that the constituent parties of his coalition government would be meeting to decide whether or not to break off the alliance with the BJP.
The National People’s Party, which Mr. Sangma heads, is opposed to the Narendra Modi government’s bid to have the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, passed in the Parliament for legalising the stay of non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India till December 31, 2014, allegedly because of religious persecution.
“We were the first to pass a Cabinet resolution against the Bill last year. There are small-small parties in our coalition government, and we will take their opinions before deciding on the future of the alliance,” Mr. Sangma said on the sidelines of a function at Umiam Lake, 20 km from capital Shillong.
Significantly, Meghalaya’s BJP lawmakers too have opposed the Bill.
The NPP is not the only regional ally of the BJP in the Northeast to be unhappy with the Bill. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, the BJP’s ruling ally in Tripura, is opposed to the Bill and had supported Tuesday’s shutdown against it called by the North East Students’ Organisation. The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, which rules Nagaland along with the BJP and other parties, has asked the Centre to review the Bill because of fears that it could pave the way for foreigners to eventually become masters in the region.
The Mizo National Front won the Mizoram Assembly election in December last year, has opposed the Bill too. Though the MNF declined to be the BJP’s alliance partner, it remains a member of the North East Democratic Alliance that the saffron party fronts.