The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Monday staged a five hours sit-in demonstration against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Dibrugarh.
The student’s body threatened to launch a massive protest if the government fails to scrap the controversial bill.
“As per the Assam Accord of 1985, anyone who has entered Assam after March 24, 1971 should be treated as an illegal migrant irrespective of one’s religious affiliation. Our demand is that it should be strictly implemented. There should be no tinkering with it. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 should be scrapped immediately since the culture, language and identity of Assamese people are at stake,” said Rajiv Gogoi, the AJYCP Dibrugarh general Secretary.
He criticized the Sarbananda Sonowal led government for showing double standards.
“If the government fails to fulfill the demand then we will launch a statewide protest against the government,” he said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was tabled in the parliament in August, 2016, seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in India who have come here till December 31 of 2014.
Following stiff opposition from every quarter, the bill that seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 has been referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and it is expected to come to a conclusion after meeting different sections of individuals, experts and groups.