<p class="title">A Lok Sabha member from Manipur on Tuesday cautioned the Modi government over the “very dangerous fall-out” of the attempts to pass the Citizenship Amendment bill in Parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“With the introduction of Citizens (Amendment) bill, 2016, and its passing by the Lok Sabha; the people of Manipur have now started demanding the pre-merger status of Manipur, an erstwhile nation state,” Thokchom Meinya, a Congress Lok Sabha member from Inner Manipur said in the Lok Sabha.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Former Manipur chief minister and senior Congress leader O Ibobi Singh and the state Congress leaders staged protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the bill.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“My state of Manipur and Northeast India are now on the boil. If the bill is passed in its present form, there will arise a huge demographic challenge in the Northeast in general and Manipur in particular,” Meinya said in the Lok Sabha.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He also reminded the government that Manipur had merged with India in 1949 under the Manipur Merger Agreement (MMA), which was rejected by the then state Assembly.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Interestingly, this Merger Agreement was never ratified by the Parliament of India. Now I urge upon the Union government to immediately take action for the ratification of this MMA by the Parliament of India,” Meinya said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress legislators from Manipur and recently appointed Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaikhangam were reaching out to Rajya Sabha members urging them to oppose the bill if it is tabled in the Upper House.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The delegation has already submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging them to reconsider the passage of the bill by the Rajya Sabha.</p>
<p class="title">A Lok Sabha member from Manipur on Tuesday cautioned the Modi government over the “very dangerous fall-out” of the attempts to pass the Citizenship Amendment bill in Parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“With the introduction of Citizens (Amendment) bill, 2016, and its passing by the Lok Sabha; the people of Manipur have now started demanding the pre-merger status of Manipur, an erstwhile nation state,” Thokchom Meinya, a Congress Lok Sabha member from Inner Manipur said in the Lok Sabha.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Former Manipur chief minister and senior Congress leader O Ibobi Singh and the state Congress leaders staged protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the bill.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“My state of Manipur and Northeast India are now on the boil. If the bill is passed in its present form, there will arise a huge demographic challenge in the Northeast in general and Manipur in particular,” Meinya said in the Lok Sabha.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He also reminded the government that Manipur had merged with India in 1949 under the Manipur Merger Agreement (MMA), which was rejected by the then state Assembly.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Interestingly, this Merger Agreement was never ratified by the Parliament of India. Now I urge upon the Union government to immediately take action for the ratification of this MMA by the Parliament of India,” Meinya said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress legislators from Manipur and recently appointed Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaikhangam were reaching out to Rajya Sabha members urging them to oppose the bill if it is tabled in the Upper House.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The delegation has already submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging them to reconsider the passage of the bill by the Rajya Sabha.</p>
