By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 24: The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) has warned a section of Bengali organizations and individuals, who, according to it, are bent on going for a clash with those opposing the Centre’s move to rehabilitate Hindu Bengalis in Assam by bringing an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Addressing the press in the city today, AJYCP president Biraj Kumar Talukdar, while reacting to the reported shouting of slogans by some Bengali organizations at Morigaon recently, said: “If any Bengali organization or individual is trying to create a conflict with those opposing the conspiracy hatched by the Centre, we want them to desist from any such move. Or else, we’re fully ready for a full-scale battle.”
On the Centre’s move to bring amendment to the Citizenship Act, Talukdar said: “India, perhaps, is the only country in the world that wants to amend its citizenship Act just to rehabilitate foreigners. On the pretext of humanity, Prime Minister rendra Modi is out to bring all Bangladeshi Hindus to India. Where was the humanity of the party lost when 15,000 Assamese youths were killed in Assam when LK Advani was the Union Home Minister? Why was then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee silent at that time? That the Assamese are becoming a minority in their own land has been proved by many surveys conducted by the government. According to census’s linguistic reports, the percentage of Assamese-speaking people in the State was 68.69 in 1971 against 19.88 Bengali-speaking people. However, according to the 1991 census report, the percentage of Assamese-speaking people was reduced to 57.81 against 21.68 per cent Bengali speakers. In 2001, the percentage of Assamese speakers was 48.08 against 27.54 per cent Bengali speakers in the State. The census report of 2011 is yet to be made public by the government. This is a mystery. If this trend continues, in 2021 the percentage of Assamese speakers will certainly be reduced to 38 against 43 per cent Bengali speakers.”
Talukdar further said: “Indian States were demarcated based on languages. In such a situation, if more Bengali people are given rehabilitation in the State, the definition of ‘linguistic state’ will be lost. And Assam will be a Bengali-majority State.”
Hitting out at the Prime Minister, Talukdar said: “This is laughable that the BJP, at the diktat of the RSS, is resorting to a false propaganda that Hindus are harassed in Bangladesh. If at all Hindus are harassed in Bangladesh, India should put diplomatic pressure on the neighbouring country. In the event of the Bill getting its passage, the Act will be implemented all over the country, but Assam will be worst affected one. If Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal keeps silent on this issue, he’ll have no right to identify himself as an Assamese.”
In the press meet, Talukdar announced the Parishad’s agitation. On October 28, a torchlight processions will be taken out all over the State, a mass rally in Guwahati on November 11, and a dhar at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on November 28. The parishad will also gherao the residents of MPs and MLAs who have been maintaining silence on the issue so as to make them accountable.
The Parishad has also warned the Centre not to test the patience of the people of Assam.