Citizenship Bill should be dumped into a dustbin: Atul Bora

Guwahati, October 23, 2018:

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Tuesday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 should be dumped into a dustbin.

Addressing a rally attended by over 50,000 people Latasil ground in Guwahati, AGP chief Atul Bora made it clear that the party would not allow the controversial bill to be passed in the Parliament.

The rally coincided with a statewide bandh called by 46 organisations and a meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee which will submit its “final” report on the bill to the Central government.

“We will not allow the Centre to pass the proposed amendment bill under any circumstances. If the Centre dares pass it and turns it into an Act, we will immediately pull out our support to the BJP-led coalition government in Assam,” Bora categorically stated.

He said since the people of Assam stood opposed to the bill and the settlement of “Hindu Bangladeshis” in Assam, the Centre should throw the bill into a dustbin.

“Yesterday and the day before, we met the JPC chairman and some of its members. We told them not to ignore the opinions of people in Assam. They visited Guwahati and Barak Valley but did not go to northern Assam, upper Assam or lower Assam. The duty of the JPC is to submit report and they will do it based on people’s opinions. We told them that they should not submit the report based on the opinions of a section of people. We demanded they visit Assam again before submitting the report. The people of Assam do not accept this bill. If it is passed, the locals will become minority. There is no doubt it threatens the existence of the locals,” Bora said.

He said Agarwal had told the AGP delegation that the JPC was taking the views of various Central ministries.

He also said that to the AGP, the Assam Accord was like the Geeta, the Quran and the Bible. He insisted that the Bangladeshi issue should be resolved based on the Assam Accord which says the illegal immigrants, irrespective of faith who came to Assam after March 24, 1971 should be detected and deported.

Two-time former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said the bill’s passage and the subsequent settlement of the “Hindu Bangladeshis” in Assam would threaten the existence of the indigenous communities of Assam.

“We cannot let the sacrifice of 855 martyrs go in vain by letting more Bangladeshi immigrants come to our state. There is already a population explosion due to infiltration from Bangladesh due to which Assamese-speaking people are decreasing and if more people from Bangladesh are brought in, then the existence of the Assamese people will be at stake,” Mahanta said.

At the end of the programme at Latasil ground, the AGP had taken out a march up to Assam Engineering Institute ground. The participants chanted various slogans against the bill.