Will Quit Politics if more than 5 Lakh Bangladeshis are given Citizenship under CAA: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati, January 13, 2019:

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a special Assembly session on Monday claimed that the entire series of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests are based on rumours, and said that he would quit politics if more than 5 lakh foreigners are naturalized under the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Biswa Sarma Govinda Chandra Pramanik, leader of a Hindu organisation in Dhaka, who had told Bangladesh-based reporters that 2.5 crore Hindus from the neighbouring country could migrate to India with the hope of getting citizenship, and alleged that Pramanik could be a Pakistani ISI agent, with the aim of sowing discord in India.

Biswa Sarma also took swipes at leader of opposition and senior Congress leader for Debabrata Saikia for claiming that 1 crore 35 lakh Bangladeshis will come to Assam after 'CAA', and said that these figures are completely baseless. "If more than 5 lakh Bangladeshis are given citizenship under CAA, I will quit politics", he said.

Read more at: Scrap CAA & Implement ILP in Assam: AJYCP to Government

Speaking on the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Minister stated Union Minister Amit Shah had held discussions with many indigenous organizations before the Bill was introduced in the Parliament. "For 3 days, he discussed regarding the C(A)B, at the Assam Bhavan", Biswa Sarma clarified.

Biswa Sarma stated that out of 70 lakh foreigners, 5 lakh were Bangladeshi Hindus, according the Union Government's figures. The Union Minister had appealed the AASU to allow the acceptance of the Hindus on humanitarian grounds, however, the AASU refused to allow the accpetance of foreigners who had arrived after 1971, Biswa Sarma revealed.

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Lamenting the death of 5 people during the struggle against the 'CAA', Biswa Sarma stated that the State Government had expressed its sorrow and had taken stock of the situation. However, the Minister said that the protesters had vandalized public property which is why the situation spiralled out of control. At the same time, Biswa Sarma lauded the likes of Congress leader for Rahul Gandhi for extending solidarity to the families of the deceased.

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