GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the ruling BJP in Assam, has stated that it will sever ties with the BJP if the Central government go ahead with the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act.
The AGP on Monday registered its stand against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, while making a representation before the visiting Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), led by its chairman, BJP MP Rajendra Agarwala, here.
The AGP president, Atul Bora informed this after leading the party delegation to meet the JPC. He said the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act that will facilitate grant of citizenship certain groups of minority refugees staying in Assam that would be against the spirit and content of Assam Accord that provides for detection and deportation of illegal migrants irrespective of caste, creed and religion, who had sneaked into the state after March 25, 1971.
The main opposition parties in the state, Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have also opposed the Citizenship Bill 2016 terming it being in contrast to the spirit of Assam Accord signed by the Central Government in August, 1985 with the leaders of Assam Agitation against illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Forum Against Citizenship Amendment Bill among others too have registered strong opposition to the Bill before the JPC stating that the Bill, if passed would put the identity of indigenous communities in the state at stake.
The AGP president further said the process of updating in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would also be adversely affected if the Bill is passed. He claimed that the proposed amendment was against the spirit of the Preamble of the Constitution, which defines India as a secular state.
“The AGP has submitted a memorandum before the JPC and we have made a strong case against the amendment. We have submitted legal records and Assam Accord copies, pointing that the amendment would go against the spirit of the Accord,” former two-time Assam CM and AGP legislator Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said after meeting the JPC.
“The indigenous people of the state will be reduced to minority in terms of linguistic, political and cultural aspects if the Bill is passed,” Mahanta added.
It has been demanding that the cut-off date for identification for illegal migrants to the state should be March 25, 1971, as per Assam Accord, and not pushed ahead till December, 2014, for certain minority groups as proposed by the amendment.
The JPC, which includes four MPs from Assam proceed to Silchar in southern part of the state tomorrow morning, where it will hold sitting over two-days.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was introduced in the Lok Sabha in July, 2016, to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to make illegal migrants from six religious communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains and Christians — from select neighbouring countries eligible for Indian citizenship.
The JPC today held day-long hearing at the Administrative Staff College here and heard a representative of all the political and apolitical organizations/individuals.