Several parties and organisations in the Northeast have asked the Centre not to tinker with the special status provisions in place in their states even as union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that the government has no intention to remove Article 371, which gives such rights.
While opposition parties in Sikkim sought an assurance from the Centre that the state’s special status, enshrined under Article 371 (F) will not be disturbed, there were apprehensions in Nagaland and Mizoram that the NDA government may remove the special rights enjoyed by people there.
However, Shah while replying to a debate on resolution for abrogating some provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, said the Narendra Modi government has no intention to remove Article 371, which gives certain special rights to some Northeast states.
Most of the states that have been accorded special provisions under Article 371 are in the Northeast, and the special status aims to preserve their tribal culture.
Article 371 (A) deals with Nagaland, Article 371 (B) with Assam, and Article 371 (C), 371 (G) and 371 (H) deal with Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
The main objective of inserting Article 371 (B) was to facilitate the creation of the sub-state Meghalaya.
The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) and the Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) were of the view that Article 371 (F) should not be tinkered with as the situation in the northeastern state is different from Jammu & Kashmir.
SDF leader KT Gyaltsen said Sikkim has been a peaceful state ever since it became a part of the Indian union in 1975, contrary to the situation in Jammu & Kashmir since 1947.