Congress to approach apex court: Ripun Borah

A Correspondent

PATHSALA, May 24: The Congress will knock the doors of the Supreme Court if the BJP-led government passes the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, said Ripun Borah, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president while taking part in the huge protest rally against the bill that was taken out at Pathsala town on Wednesday under the aegis of Bhabanipur Block Congress committee and Bajali block Congress committee of Barpeta district. Ripun Borah also criticized the AGP for not withdrawing support from the government. He also criticized the BJP government in the State as it had promised to ensure security of jati, mati and veti but failed to do so. He also blamed the AGP for tolerating the dishonour to the Assam Accord only for the greed of power. He also cited the example of the IMDT Act which was scrapped by the court.

As many as three Congress MLAs of Barpeta district - Baghbar MLA Sherman Ali, Sarukshetri MLA Jakir Hussain, and Jania MLA Abdul Khalek - took part in the rally. At least 2,000 took part in the rally and shouted slogans to scrap the bill. Santanu Sarma, president of the Barpeta district Congress, organized the protest rally as a part of the Statewide protest from May 14 to May 24 by Assam Pradesh Congress in various districts of the State. Arun Das, president of Bajali block Congress, and Fakaruddin Ahmed, president of the Bhabanipur block Congress, took part in the rally. The protesters gathered at Rajiv Bhavan, Pathsala and started their protest rally at Azad Bhavan, Pathsala and went to the SDO Civil office premises. The 50,000 signatures collected will be submitted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Earlier, another 1.5 lakh signatures were submitted at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, said Ripun Borah.