Meghalaya Assembly passes resolution to exempt areas not covered under 6th Schedule

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 16, 2020

The state Assembly has passed a government resolution to urge the Centre to exempt the entire state including the areas not covered under the Sixth Schedule from the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.

The resolution was moved by the chief minister Conrad K Sangma during the second day of the Assembly’s budget session here on Monday. 

The resolution said that the CAA, 2019 has come into force with publication in the Gazette of India on December 12, 2019 and the Act provides that it shall not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.

it added whereas, the CAA, 2019 applies to areas in the state not covered under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution i.e., the municipality of Shillong as define in para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, and hence additonal measures are required to protect and safeguard the interests of the tribal population of the state. 

“Now, therefore this House thanks the Government of India for exempting the Sixth Schedule areas of the state from the purview of the CAA, 2019 and resolves that the Government of India be urged to exempt the entire state including the areas not covered under the Sixth Schedule from the purview of the said Act,” the resolution said. 

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The chief minister also informed that there are 27 municipal wards out of which 23 are under the Sixth Schedule areas while the remaining four wards covering an area of 2 square kilometers (out of 23,000 sq.km) falls outside the sixth schedule areas.

 “To ensure that the entire state is exempted, the state government has taken additional measures to protect the indigenous people of the state by passing a resolution during the current session to urge the Government of India to exempt the entire state including the 2 sq.km not covered under Sixth Schedule from the purview of the CAA,” he said 

Referring to the demand to reject the CAA, the Conrad however said that constitutionally the state government is not in a position to reject the CAA but can only urge the Centre to exempt the entire state.

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He further informed that since the Act has come into force, there has not been a single person who have applied for citizenship from the state government.

Not happy with the content of the government resolution, the opposition Congress demanded that the MDA government should demand the Centre to repeal the Act. 

“…this House must take a resolution like we did on the ILP (issue) unanimoulsy saying we reject and disapprove the whole content of the CAA and urge the Centre to repeal CAA,” Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma said.

Mukul, who is a former chief minister, also accused the Centre for trying to mislead the people that partition was based on religion.

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“I am afraid a very bad precedence has come in with the coming of this Act. If they (Centre) are saying that CAA is because partition is based on religious, other agendas will be imposed in future and that is why we oppose the enforcement of this Act,” he said.

Supporting his view, East Shillong legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the government should use strong words like repeal or scrap in the resolution. She said that the Centre should also be urged not to divide Shillong city.

Umroi legislator George B Lyngdoh said that “we cannot allow this Act to further divide the nation.”

According to Mawlai legislator PT Sawkmie, states like Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have already passed resolutions in their respective houses against the CAA.  

In his reply, chief minister however said that repealing of the CAA is unlikely as parliament has already passed it. 

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Therefore, he said that the government resolution to urge the Centre to exempt the entire state is most practical and right (approach).

“It would give 100 percent exemption to us. I urge this house to pass this resolution and send strong message to Centre that we want the entire state to be exempted from the purview of the CAA,” Conrad said.

Later, the government resolution was passed after it was put to vote.