Shillong, Dec 7: Activists under the banner of the Confederation of Hynñiewtrep Social Organisation (COHSO), a conglomerate of 14 NGOs organized a black flag march in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The Bill is to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – eligible for citizenship of India.

Armed with black flags, the activists shouted anti-NDA government slogans like “Modi government down down” and “Bangladeshis go back” as they took out the protest march from Malki to the parking lot near the Additional Secretariat.

Before the march, the activists paid rich tribute to former Khasi Students Union (KSU) president Bull N Lyngdoh at the late leader’s bust on his 24th death anniversary at Malki.

Asking the NDA government to immediately scrap the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, the groups demanded implementation of ILP and NRC in Meghalaya.

The 14 groups include HYC JSU, JYF, HANM, AJSU, WJNC, EJNC, RBSU, CORP, MPUF, JSM, WKSU, WYF and HPF.

Hynñiewtrep Youth Council (HYC) president, Robertjune Kharjahrin said that the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 of the Centre is not only against the indigenous tribals of the North East region but it is also posing threat to the national security of the country.

Alleging that the proposed Bill seeks to make North East become the second Bangladesh, Kharjahrin said, “If Bangladeshis are more important than the NE people in the eyes of the Narendra Modi, he should become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.”

Elaborating more on the danger of the Bill, Kharjahrin said as per the report of a study, the risk of Bangladesh getting submerged under water is very high, and this will lead to its people migrating to other countries including India.

“If only 2 crore of Bangladesh population migrate to this part of the country, there is no doubt that the indigenous people and their identity will be wiped out,” he said.

On the other hand, the HYC leader further alleged that the Bill is nothing but a “political ploy” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to convert the North East as its biggest vote bank by bringing in illegal Bangladeshi in the region.

The groups also asked the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government to table an official resolution against the Bill, and get it passed by the State Assembly.

The groups cited an instance of Mizoram that has adopted an official resolution expressing its strong opposition against the Bill.