Aizawl: Mizoram , where protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill saw pro-China slogans raised by demonstrators, said the fate that awaits the bill is a vindication of the people’s resistance.“Our prayers have been answered,” Vanlalruata, chairperson of the NGO Coordination Committee (a powerful umbrella body of all major civil society and student organizations in the state), said. He meant it quite literally — last Sunday, the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee, a conglomerate of 16 churches in Mizoram, had organized a special mass prayer for the “defeat of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.The bill was on the revised list of business in the Upper House for Tuesday, but the session had been adjourned till Wednesday, for which the Centre listed it again. It could not be introduced on the last day of the session, however, after the House was adjourned sine die.Vanlalruata, who is also president of the influential Young Mizo Association, however, saw in this a vindication of the people’s resistance to the bill. “It is the united opposition to the bill by the people of Mizoram and other northeastern states that resulted in the bill being blocked,” he added.Mizo Zirlai Pawl, the apex Mizo student body, felt the same. “The effort of the people of the northeast and Mizoram culminated in a victory for freedom of religion and protection of the interests of the sons of the soil,” L Ramdinlaia Renthlei, president of the student body, said.In Mizoram, apprehensions regarding the bill centred around the Buddhist Chakma community. The bill sought to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The majority Mizos see the Buddhist Chakmas as “migrants”, often opposing political and social involvement of the community in matters of the state. The Mizos said the bill would “legitimise” them.Amid strident protests against the proposed amendment, NDA ally Mizo National Front (MNF), had threatened to walk out of the alliance and the MNF government had passed a resolution against the bill. Chief minister and MNF president Zoramthanga had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh to convey his stand against the bill.The state BJP unit has also opposed the bill, with president of the unit, JV Hluna saying that the unit itself would be dissolved if the national leadership of the party went ahead with the bill.

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