The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a key coalition partner of the BJP-led government in Assam, has reiterated that the party would continue to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The AGP during a meeting here on Friday has decided to put pressure on the Centre in this regard.
The party has demanded that the illegal migrants be detected and deported from the state according to the Assam Accord irrespective of their religion.
AGP president Atul Bora said they have already written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to follow the clauses of Assam Accord which endorses that irrespective of any religion, caste and creed, anyone who has come to India after March 25, 1971 is a foreigner.
The Bill, if passed, will pave the way for granting Indian citizenship to Hindu migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India illegally to escape religious persecution.
“We have requested the Centre not to disrespect the sentiment of the people of Assam. The state has already overburdened with so many issues. We want it to solve at the earliest,” said Bora.
The AGP also planned to organise a citizens’ meet on December 21 in Guwahati besides holding a series of meetings in every district of the State on December 22.
The proposed citizenship legislation, which aims to give Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindu refugees from the above mentioned countries, was a promise made by the BJP before the last parliamentary as well as the Assam Assembly polls.
The six-year Assam Agitation ended with the signing of the Assam Accord on Independence Day in 1985.
The leaders of the Assam Agitation formed the AGP on October 14, 1985, in Golaghat.
There had been protests by other organisations and individuals against the Bill who had termed it “communally motivated”.