Cachar AGP protest passage of Citizenship Bill

Our Correspondent

Silchar: The Cachar district committee of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) along with KMSS, Khilonjiya Mancha and others staged a protest demonstrating before the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar here on Monday against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014. This was an election promise of the BJP in 2014. The protesters demanded immediate withdrawal of the Bill. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner addressed to the Prime Minister of India.

The Bill, as it has been mentioned in the memorandum, will violate the very essence and proviso of the historic Assam Accord of 1985. This Bill is a grave threat to Assamese language and culture and will also frustrate the very ethos of the people of Assam and also the spirit of the sacrifices made by 855 martyrs of the Assam Agitation. They have mentioned that the Prime Minister’s declaration on January 4, 2019 will certainly inspire infiltrators and thereby the very existence of Assam would be in danger. AGP is not at all prepared to accept the Bill. They urged upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to take such steps.

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