After a few weeks of hiatus during which the JNU episode literally snatched people’s and media’s attention, the CAA-NRC duo, it seems is back to the fold. This is evident from the remarks made by none other than Prime Minister himself in Kolkata on Sunday where he said, “The citizenship law is not to snatch citizenship, but to give citizenship.” In addition to this, for Northeast specifically, there has been the assurance for once more time that the new Citizenship Act has been structured such that interests of the people of the region are not affected. From these remarks it is apparent that so far as CAA is concerned, there are, as of now, no immediate signals for a rollback. Judging the by and large sentiments of the Northeast, it is apparent that discontent will perhaps remain alive with the clamour for a complete revocation only reaching higher pitches. With both factions, government and the opposition  steadfast in their stands, for Northeast and Arunachal there is no other alternative at the moment but to fine-tune the ‘protective’ mechanism(s) as that have been ‘promised’ in the Act which has officially come into effect from January 10 last.
There is little scope for anyone, especially by the ruling dispensation at the Centre now to tread the ‘denial path’ since the whole country is witnessing the ‘impact’ of CAA and the fear for an impending NRC. Apolitical protests, devoid of any organisational  machinery involving students and youths at the forefront and voluntarily participated by almost all sections of people cutting across religious beliefs has taken the movement to  extraordinary heights rarely noticed in the country in recent memory. Along with this mass-movement like character, quite a lot of political actions seem to be in store with the main opposition party Congress re-entering the arena with renewed zeal and demanding total withdrawal of NRC and complete shelving of the NRC. To upscale the tone it had went a step ahead with the allegation that ‘NPR is disguised NRC’ giving clear hint that, in all probability, the current Congress-ruled states may not participate in the aforesaid process. It is not difficult to foresee the complex and tumultuous days that are in store in length and breadth of the country.
And given the fact that there are no wayouts from this, for Arunachal, it is going to be an acid test for the state’s administrative apparatus which has to shoulder a grave responsibility of playing the role of a vigilant sentinel by implementing the ILP provision and allied ones in absolute letter and spirit. This is something which state government must ensure at any cost.

 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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