An indefinite curfew was imposed in Manipur capital Imphal on Tuesday and mobile internet services suspended till February 16 across the state in view

of the continued protests against the Citizenship (Amendment)

Bill.

The state capital straddles Imphal East and Imphal West districts.

The authorities clamped curfew in the state capital amid reports that the contentious bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The legislation was, however, not presented in the Upper House.

Political parties in the Northeast, including BJP allies, are vehemently opposing the bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8. The Centre had said it will try to get it passed by the Rajya Sabha during the budget session.

The bill seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled persecution, after six years of residence in India, instead of 12 years, which is currently the norm, even if they do not possess any document.

The indigenous people of the region are apprehending that if the law is enacted, it will endanger their livelihood and identity.

Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to assuage the concerns of various political parties that the proposed law will not compromise the interests of people of the region, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma has threatened to pull his National Peoples Party out of the

BJP-led NDA if the Rajya Sabha passes the Bill.

Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh met union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday and requested him not to table the bill in the Rajya Sabha.

CNBC-TV18 caught up with Amit Malviya, spokesperson, BJP; Szarita Laitphang, spokesperson, Congress; Suneet Chopra, CPI(M)and Rahul Rajkhowa, rapper, to discuss the issue.

Malviya said, “The bill essentially says that we would give space to the minorities from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who are facing persecution in India. Now that is going on within a country which is in a sense of Hindu civilisation and for that matter, it would want to welcome all minorities."

The Citizenship Bill will not put the onus or the burden on the Northeast alone because they would be accommodated and settled in various parts of the country, he added.

Chopra said, “Malviya have to realise that their allies themselves have gone against them and the most important thing here is that various chief ministers of the Northeastern states have realised the kind of irreparable loss and disruption can happen there."

"If the bill comes into action it is basically going to contravene the Land Rights Bill of the tribal communities so it is a threat for most of the endogenous communities that are there in these seven states," he added.

Laitphang said, “It will backfire like Ram Mandir strategy, it will back fire like BJP's cow protection strategy. It will back fire because you are violating the secular constitution of our country. You are actually making the minorities from other countries far more vulnerable than they were before."