NRC update, Citizenship Bill & Assam Accord are interlinked: BJP

GUWAHATI, Oct 11: In a new development on Assam’s burning issues, the two-day-long executive meeting of the party that concluded on Thursday adopted a resolution to consider the NRC update, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, Assam Accord implementation and identity crisis of indigenous people of the State on the same line.

The executive meeting held in Majuli and attended by all top brasses of BJP including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while adopting a resolution on NRC update decided that the party will not differentiate on the issues of NRC update, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, Assam Accord implementation and identity crisis of indigenous people of the State. The resolution said all the four issues are interlinked and cannot be treated with different views.

Accusing the Opposition Congress of leading a misinformation campaign on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the BJP executive meeting said such a campaign has made the other non-BJP parties and organizations disillusioned on the issue of granting citizenship to Hindu migrants. The party said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was one of the outcomes of citizenship crisis being faced by a large section of people especially Hindus for decades due to partition of the country following the country’s independence.

The BJP has accused the Congress of misleading the people of Assam on the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and urged everyone to wait till the Joint Parliamentary Committee submits its report on the Bill by considering views of all stakeholders.

The executive meet while reiterating that the party was committed to make Assam free from Bangladeshis resolved to launch an aggressive campaign against the Congress’s misinformation campaign on granting citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh.

The BJP’s resolution has surprised the political and social circles in the State. Political observers have questioned as to how could the BJP consider the NRC update, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and Assam Accord implementation on the same line? While the NRC is being updated with names of all those persons who entered Assam on or before March 25, 1971, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to grant citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The historic Assam Accord has stipulated that all Bangladeshis who entered Assam after March 25, 1971 must be detected and deported.

“All are different issues and need to be treated differently. Identity of indigenous people will not be protected if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is passed,” says a political analyst. He said it is not only the Congress but also all other organizations including the AASU is spreading a campaign against the Citizenship Bill.

On the issue of price rise, the BJP executive meeting said the hike of prices of essential commodities during the previous Congress regime was more.