An Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) delegation will soon go to Delhi to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and members of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, to convey the party’s opposition to the bill.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s central executive committee held here on Sunday.
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The meeting which was presided over by agriculture minister and AGP president Atul Bora demanded that the joint parliamentary committee, led by BJP Lok Sabha MP from Meerut Rajendra Agrawal, should visit Assam to take the views of all stakeholders on the bill.
The regional party will also hold a mass convention here in March and public meetings in all districts to create awareness against the bill.
AGP is a key ally in BJP-led government in Assam.
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When the BJP is trying to push ahead with the contentious bill, the AGP has even threatened to pull out of the government if the bill is passed in Parliament.
The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to give citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Earlier, around 200 members of other political parties, including former CPM MLA from Rangia, Ananta Deka, joined the AGP at its Ambari headquarters on Sunday.
Earlier, the regional party wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to follow the clauses of Assam Accord which endorses that irrespective of any religion, caste and creed, anyone who has come to India after March 25, 1971 is a foreigner.
The six-year Assam Agitation ended with the signing of the Assam Accord on Independence Day in 1985.
The leaders of the Assam Agitation formed the AGP on October 14, 1985, in Golaghat.