During the Lok Sabha interaction session of the Citizenship Amendment Bill on 9 December, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah assured to extend Manipur into the limit of Inner Line Permit (ILP). Shah thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for agreeing to include Manipur as well, under the ILP regime. Previously, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland (excluding some parts) have been included in the ILP regime under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873.
Inner Line Permit is an official travel document issued by the government to grant the inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.
Citing Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland (except Dimapur), Shah stated that “there is an attempt to create fear in the mind of north-eastern people due to lack of knowledge of the bill or even on purpose… areas covered by Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, need not worry as Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will not be applicable there.”
The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, proposed in the Lok Sabha, exempts tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and areas covered under The Inner Line, notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
