North East will not be affected, Rajnath tells delegation from Manipur

Imphal: As protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill continue across Manipur, Union home minister Rajnath Singh has said that the proposed legislation will not affect the northeastern states, especially Manipur.
Rajnath said this during his meeting with a delegation of representatives of several political parties led by Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in New Delhi on Thursday.Representatives of BJP, AAP, Shiv Sena, NPF, Trinamool Congress, NEIDP, PDA, LJP, MNDF, MPC and NPP attended the meeting. They also submitted a memorandum to Rajnath, sources said.
Biren, while highlighting the growing protests, urged the home minister to insert a clause in the bill to safeguard the indigenous people of the region. Rajnath assured the delegation that the Centre would take necessary steps to ensure that the bill does not affect and hurt the sentiments of the people of the northeast, sources added.
On the other hand, a people’s convention on bill, held under the aegis of the Manipur Peoples against Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, has resolved to continue a sustained movement against the proposed legislation. The participants of the convention unanimously agreed to condemn the “unconstitutional and undemocratic” way in which the bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha, despite protests across the northeast. The bill threatens the very existence of the indigenous people of the northeast in general and Manipur in particular, the protesters said.