Meghalaya: Agatha Sangma reaffirms support for CAA citing exemption

Guwahati: Current Lok Sabha MP and National People's Party (NPP) candidate Agatha K Sangma claimed that she voted for the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) because it was exempted from Meghalaya.

The Tura MP defended her stance on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said that she would not have lent her support to the bill had it included Garo Hills.

Clarifying further, she stated that since the CAA does not apply within Meghalaya, there is no need for concern among its residents.

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Agatha explained the historical context, noting that when the Citizenship Amendment Bill was initially introduced, Meghalaya and other northeastern states were granted exemptions following advocacy efforts by several parliamentarians.

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The CAA, whose rules were officially notified on March 13 this year paves the way for granting Indian nationality to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.