Bill Is Dead, Long Live The Bill

BJP goes back to old rhetoric that not many in the NE want to hear.

- Abdul Gani

FIRECACKERS were burst on busy streets across the Northeast. Supporters of students’ organisations and political parties distributed sweets. Ordinary passers-by joined the celebrations, breaking into impromptu jigs. Word had just come from Delhi that the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 had lapsed. The BJPled government at the Centre did not table it for debate in the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the budget session on February 13. For many in the Northeast, it was a victory after months of protests—sometimes violent—against the bill aimed at providing concessions to non-Muslims from three neighbouring states in getting Indian citizenship. The bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha.