Ethnic bodies shout full-throttle against Citizenship Bill, 2016

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 8: Crying against the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill-2016, a number of ethnic organizations from across the state are raising concerted voice for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the legislation.  Sharing the memoranda to media on Tuesday evening, which was submitted to the JPC during its public hearing on the Bill on Monday in Guwahati, the Indigenous Tribal Sahitya Sabha, Assam (ITSSA), “we reiterate storng opposition against the acceptance of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill-2016.” The ITSSA, in its memoranda to the JPC also urged to take a positive role for the greater interest of the safety, security and preservation of the language, literature, culture, heritage and tradition of the indigenous tribal besides other indigenous Assamese people of Assam.

In another release, the general secretary of the Assam Gorkha Sammelan (AGS), Bhaskar Dahal strongly opposed the legislation and termed that the Bill is nothing but a conspiracy against the Assamese people plotted by the Centre with an ill intention to confer citizenship to the illegal Hindu immigrants in the soil of Assam. Stating that the Bill will wipe out the Assamese from its own land, Dahal appealed for immediate and unconditional removal of the legislation. “The Centre’s turnaround in this regard will provoke only to initiate rigorous protests against the Bill”, the release added. 

Meanwhile, SATSAREE – a socio-cultural organization of the state also opposed the Bill. The organization president Mandira Boruah in a release said, “The proposed Bill is threatening the identity question of every Assamese and we all should stand together against the disheartening Bill.”