Independent candidate from Shillong parliament constituency Prof Lakhon Kma on Tuesday said security of the country is being compromised with the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Speaking to reporters after filing nomination, Prof Kma said, “I have serious reservations against CAA but it got passed in 2019 and the rules have just come up before elections. It has two issues – one it is eating away all our job prospects. You bring in foreigners from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh simply because they say we have been persecuted by Muslim people in that country.”
“We are actually compromising with the security of this country. We might end up allowing influx and terrorists into this country, who will leak secret information of this country pretending to be a Hindu, a Christian, a Jain, a Sikh or a Bhuddhist,” he said while adding “I worry because this country has a lose kind of network checking. Hence in a country like ours where the surveillance is so poor, you are allowing people from foreign countries and they might be terrorists and they are compromising internal security of this country.”
Asked on the long pending demand for ILP in Meghalaya, Prof Kma said there is a need to weigh the pros and cons of the issue.
“This issue would have died had the government not given it to Manipur in 2020. Simply they promise you that bringing us to power will give you ILP. Before that, I am sure everyone does not doubt that they will ever get ILP. But now they have played politics with the ILP. I do see the NGOs and student bodies have every right to demand because the central government has played politics but we know ILP cannot be given by the state government it is a matter with the Centre and hence, I would say this is a tricky issue as we don’t want to jump the bandwagon to say yes we want or no we don’t want. I don’t want to make this statement right now simply because we have to weigh the pros and cons mainly because Meghalaya being a transit state, how will you regulate people coming from Guwahati going to the southern part of Assam or people going to Tripura. How will you control these open channels that we have,” he said.
According to him, the Centre has played politics with the issue of ILP in Manipur and that is why the demand for ILP has come up.
“I will not jump into conclusion but I would really measure it and try to take everybody on board to say lets weigh the pros and cons if it benefits our state, I am all for it and if it doesn’t benefit our state, I am totally against it,” he maintained.
Slamming political parties for fooling the people in the name of ‘jaidbynriew’, Prof Kma said, “Jaidbynriew has become a cliché as people have used and abused this term time and again. They remember jaidbynriew only during elections whether MDC, MLA or MP, the moment they win and they are in the power, you will see they care least about the jaidbynriew and that is why what am trying to say is that whether I lose or win for me my community matters.
If you elect me as an MP I will show you what jaidbynriew means.”
Stating that secularism is at stake, Prof Kma said there is a threat perception against secularism because the current dispensation seems to be bending towards one particular religion.
“I don’t want our country to be Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan – this is what I will always oppose and I want the public to realise and send me to Delhi. I want to say this in front of Modi that don’t play around with the Constitution as you are going to break the country into pieces if you try to play around with the Constitution. As long as the constitution is intact, we are one country as citizens. We love our country as we love our constitution. The moment you play around with the constitution, I have no doubt that this country will break into pieces,” he warned.
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