Assam should be kept out of Bill: SFI

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 4: Members of the Kamrup (M) District Committee of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) today staged a strike at Dighalipukhuripar in the city in against the Citizen Amendment Bill, 2016 and in support of their demand for restoration of March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for detection of foreigners in the State.

In a statement issued to the press today, they said: “The NRC update work has been started by taking March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. If this is changed now, the problem of infiltration will further aggravate.  In the  me of getting the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 the BJP government is going to destroy the age-old unity and integrity in Assam. If the Bill gets its passage and becomes an Act, people on the other side of intertiol border will be encouraged to enter Assam in larger number, posing a threat to the socio-cultural fabric of Assam. This is will also lead to a demographic change in the State. Taking all this in view, the SFI maintains that Assam should be kept outside the purview of the Bill by considering it as a special state.”

The SFI feels that the recent statement made by State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will aggravate the relations between not only Hindus and Muslims in Assam, but also between Assamese and Bengalis. The Federation appeals to the people of Assam to go for an agitation regardless of caste, creed and religion.