Dispur misses Assamese cause over aliens’ issue:Tarun Gogoi

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Just a day before the Assam bandh call issued by 41 local organizations protesting the Central government’s move to table the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the Parliament and also the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s (JPC) crucial sitting on the issue, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday deemed it a “betrayal on the part of the BJP government to settle foreigners in Assam by passing the controversial Bill.” He castigated the state government for “failing to safeguard the interests of the indigenous people by supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.”

Addressing media persons at Dispur, Gogoi said, “The government that came to power in the 2016 Assembly polls with tall promises of protecting the ‘jati’, ‘mati’, ‘bheti’. Things have come to such a pass that if the Bill is passed, the Assamese people will definitely lose their ‘jati’, ‘mati’, ‘bheti’.”

Dwelling on the Assam bandh call on October 23 given by 46 local organizations against the Central Government’s move to table the Bill on the floors of the Parliament, Gogoi said: “We support the issue on which the bandh call has been given.” Gogoi termed as “fascist” the present state government’s move of “issuing threats to even cancel trade licenses if traders do not open their establishments during the proposed 12-hour bandh call.” He alleged: “The present State Government is the most incompetent government till date.”

Gogoi also said that “if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is passed then the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would become a waste paper.” He added: “While on one hand the updating of NRC is on under the supervision of the Supreme Court, on the other hand the State Government is trying to settle foreigners in Assam by passing the Citizenship Bill.” Dwelling on the NRC, Gogoi added: “I personally feel that the electoral rolls of 2016 should be the basis for the NRC. This is particularly significant because the present legislators have been elected on the basis of this poll roll.”

Turning the tables on the Central Government, the former Chief Minister further posed: “What has happened to the promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he had announced that after May 17, 2014 not a single foreigner would be allowed to remain in Assam. But now, he is absolutely silent on this burning issue. Instead, he is trying to carry through the Citizenship Bill in order to settle foreigners in the country.”