Voted for CAA in Parliament because Meghalaya was exempted: Agatha Sangma

Shillong: Agatha K Sangma, the incumbent Lok Sabha MP and National People's Party candidate for Tura, on Friday said she supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament because Meghalaya was exempted from its provisions.

Despite facing criticism from opposition parties for her stance, Agatha emphasised that she would not have supported the Bill if it included Garo Hills.

She clarified that since the CAA does not apply in Meghalaya, there is no cause for concern.

The Tura MP explained that when the Citizenship Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2019, Meghalaya and other northeastern states were exempted due to advocacy by then-MP and now Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, along with other parliamentarians.

Conrad K Sangma had earlier clarified that the CAA would not impact Meghalaya significantly as only a small portion of the state's land was excluded from its purview.

According to the CAA, rules of which were notified on March 13, the government will now start granting Indian nationality to non-Muslim migrants - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians - from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

Meanwhile, the NPP distanced itself from a cash seizure incident in Arunachal Pradesh, with party chief Conrad K Sangma dismissing it as "baseless" and unrelated to the party.

The clarification came after Rs 1.25 crore was seized from a vehicle following Sangma's convoy during campaigning in the northeastern state on Thursday.

NPP spokesperson HM Shangpliang asserted that the vehicle in question was not part of their convoy, and any attempts to link the incident with their national president were unfounded.