Atul Bora Invokes Mother’s Sentiment For Sarbananda Sonowal!

GUWAHATI: All the three AGP ministers in the BJP-led government at Dispur are going to tender their resignations on Wednesday.

The AGP leaders, who had been in New Delhi for the past few days campaigning against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, arrived in Guwahati on Monday night. They were welcomed by party workers for going with the sentiments of the people of the State.

Party president Atul Bora said the party had failed to get any positive response from Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on the Bill. “We repeatedly reminded Sonowal of his initiative in getting the IM(DT) Act abrogated. We told him that the Bill, if passed in Parliament, would spell disaster for Assam. As Chief Minister, the onus of taking the right step of not letting anyone impose such Bill on the State lay with him. We failed to see any such initiative. We had sought an appointment with him for discussion on the Bill, but we weren’t given any.”

Bora quoted his mother as inspiring him to oppose the Bill when he had asked her what she was feeling about it. “The Bill is a burning problem in Assam. People are opposing it tooth and nail. My son, you better take the side of the people,” he quoted her telling him in Golaghat recently.

“When we severed our ties with the BJP on Monday, my mother telephoned me and said ‘what you’ve done is just’,” Bora said, and added, “Sarbananda Sonowal and we’re Assam Agitation peers. I’ve seen the image of my mother in Sonowal’s mother. So is my respect for her. Now Sarbananda Sonowal should stand with his eyes closed under the portrait of his mother and ask her opinion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. I hope the reply won’t be any different from that of my mother. He needs to hear the voice of the people of the State.”

Bora further said, “Some people had doubts on our stand on the Bill. We had said repeatedly that we would fight the Bill till the end. We fought it until Monday and then severed our ties with the BJP when Home Minister Rajnath Singh let us know that they were going to pass the Bill in Parliament. We believe that if the BJP leaders, who were in the AASU and regional parties earlier, had mounted pressure on the Centre against the Bill, the Centre would have cancelled the Bill.”

Meanwhile, one of the AGP ministers, Phani Bhushan Choudhury, said all the three AGP leaders will resign from the government at Dispur on Wednesday.

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