Shillong, Nov 19: The North East Students’ Organisation has asked the Centre to immediately detect and deport all illegal migrants, seal the Indo-Bangla border and implement the inner line permit in the whole of the North East region.
These were part of the eleven-point demand submitted through the Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar on Tuesday.
“(We also) urges the Centre to strengthen border control and monitoring, both particularly in vulnerable areas, by deploying adequate security personnel and modern surveillance technology, total exemptions of the applicability of Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025 from the whole of the North Eastern region, implement the historic Assam Accord in letter and spirit, provide Constitutional Safeguard to the indigenous people of Assam as per the recommendations of the Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma Committee which was formed by the the Govt. Of India and also provide Constitutional safeguard to the indigenous people of Tripura, prepare National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the whole of North East with a specific Base Year according to the unique history of each state and to re-examine the NRC of Assam, provide Inner Line Pass (ILP) for the whole of North East, coordinate with neighbouring states and relevant agencies to ensure that migrants are not simply relocated within the region, preserve and protect indigenous rights, culture, language, political and land ownership through appropriate legal safeguards and policy measure and to set up a Special Review Committee to address population explosion in certain areas,” NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said in the memorandum.
“We urge the Government of India to treat this issue with the seriousness and urgency it demands. The demographic and cultural changes already visible in parts of our region are warnings of an existential crisis. If strong and sustained measures are not taken now, the very identity of the North East’s indigenous peoples could be irreversibly altered,” he added.
In the letter, NESO warns that unchecked illegal influx since 1947 has become a grave threat to the socio‑cultural fabric, demographic balance, and political stability of the North East.
Citing the tragic example of Tripura, where indigenous people have been reduced to a minority, and the prolonged anti‑foreigners movement in Assam culminating in the 1985 Assam Accord, the organization points out that promises made then remain unfulfilled.
The memorandum underscores that recent waves of agitation in Meghalaya (1979, 1987, early 1990s) and the current demographic shift in Assam reflect a crisis spilling into neighboring states, including the plains of Garo Hills.
It stresses that the problem is existential for indigenous communities, endangering languages, traditions, and cultural identities.
NESO also criticizes recent central policies, notably the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (partially exempted in the North East) and the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order 2025, which it says exacerbate the situation by allowing certain migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to remain in India.
