Dimapur, 24 April (MTNews): According to a Times of India report, as ILP checking takes front stage in Dimapur, dissatisfaction has been expressed in Assam over the Nagaland government’s extension of the ILP system to the entire Dimapur district.
Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC) Assam, an NGO, reportedly expressed severe grief and distress over the notification issued by Dimapur’s Deputy Commissioner, Sachin Jaiswal, on 19 April. Dimapur was previously the only district in the state that was not covered by the ILPs system.
“Dimapur is the commercial hub and has a mixed population often referred to as ‘mini India’. People speaking Bengali, Bihari, Marwari, Punjabi and other languages have been living in Dimapur for decades. With the ILP system being implemented after the notification issued by the Dimapur DC on April 19, the 1.5 lakh non-tribal living in Dimapur have been left with an uncertain future,” CRPC general secretary Sadhan Purkayastha was quoted by TOI as saying.
The CRPC officials also urged that the ILP system be removed not just from Dimapur, but also from Manipur.
The Nagaland government’s notification requires “every non-indigenous person” who entered Dimapur district after November 21, 1979, to obtain an ILP within 90 days.
Meanwhile, on 23 April, a Twitter user with the handle @VoiceofAxom tweeted a brief video of Muslims wandering through the streets of Dimapur with the statement, “This is Dimapur of Nagaland, a Tribal State. Can you believe this?” has received a lot of support from right-wing political party followers.
The post, which has received approximately 218.9K views, has widened the Hindu-Muslim split on the social networking platform.
The user went on to say that the video was of 2022 but uploaded it “to showcase the gravity of the situation” since the user thought that “the situation is changing and being encroached by foreigners.”
Meanwhile, A Rahman, Working President of Muslim Council Dimapur, has urged the Nagaland government to cut the cost of ILP cards and to exclude students from applying for them.
He urged Muslim inhabitants of Dimapur and neighboring areas to respect the guidelines and announcement, and highlighted that not all Muslims are Bangladeshis or immigrants.
