Five days after the Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha announced that the state government would implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the opposition Congress urged the state government not to implement the new law as it would change the demography of the state.

A delegation of Congress tribal wing Tripura Pradesh Congress Adivasi Committee (TPCAC) on Tuesday met Tripura Chief Secretary J K  Sinha and urged him not to implement the CAA.

The TPCAC chairman Sabda Kumar Jamatia, who led the five-member delegation, urged the Chief Secretary that if more foreigners take shelter in Tripura, it would add additional hardship to the people of the bordering state in terms of economy and other issues.

“Tripura was princely state having tribal majority population in the state, but now reduced to a microscopic minority due to constant infiltration from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh,” said Sabda Kumar Jamatia and added that if the CAA will implement , it will to create a serious and sensitive sense of deprivation to the mind of the indigenous people of Tripura.

The TPCAC urged the state government not to implement the CAA in Tripura as it would jeopardise the interest of the indigenous people.

The Congress’ tribal wing said that before passing the CAA in 2019 in the parliament, 1971 was the cut off year of residence in India for obtaining Indian Citizenship by any foreigner through accepted procedure and for that, any foreigner entering Tripura from Bangladesh after 1971 cannot be provided Indian Citizenship.

Meanwhile, Congress working committee member Sudip Roy Barman criticized Tipra-Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and alleged that he cheated the tribals by raising many demands and now he backtracked from his earlier stand. 

“Earlier Debbarma strongly opposed the CAA and now after becoming an ally of the BJP since March, changed his position on the issue. Motha chief was talking big against the BJP before March, but now he has changed colours and joined the BJP to serve his personal interest,” said Roy Barman.

The former minister urged the people specially the tribals not to trust Debbarma anymore and teach him a lesson befittingly in the future elections.

Their leaders claim the Act won't be implemented in the Sixth Schedule Areas of the state, but if the CAA is enforced, the entire state's demographics will change and ADC areas are also the part of the state, said Sudip.

The Congress strongly opposes the CAA's implementation and has submitted a memorandum to the chief secretary on Tuesday and the tribal wing, Adivasi Congress, will launch a statewide protest against this controversial Act, he said.

It may be recalled here that the BJP-led government has formed a six-member empowered committee in the state to process applications for citizenship under the CAA. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 paves the way for granting Indian nationality to undocumented non-Muslim migrants - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians - from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

While, Tripura Chief Minister last week said that after directions from the Centre, the state government is preparing to implement CAA in the state.

Following the advice of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), a six-member state-level empowered committee with the Director of Census Operations as its chairman was formed in Tripura recently to grant citizenship under the CAA.

Rabindra Reang, Director of Census Operations, Tripura, said that after the advice of the MHA, like other states and Union Territories in the country, a state-level empowered committee was constituted in Tripura for granting Indian citizenship under the CAA.

District-level committees headed by the District Magistrates of all the eight districts were also formed accordingly, Reang told.