Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is set to catch a new momentum in Assam as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 meeting rejected the amendments proposed by the members.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Assam, Bhubaneswar Kalita said that the opposition parties moved about 15 amendment proposals against the Bill.
“Today during the JPC meet, we discussed all the amendment proposals clause by clause,” he said on Monday adding that the amendments proposals were rejected by majority of the members of the JPC.
He said that the JPC meeting resorted to vote over the amendment proposals as the members failed to arrive at a consensus over the proposals.
It may be mentioned here that the controversial constitutional amendment was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016. The bill was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in August 2016. The bill seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“This is a conspiracy. The people of Assam have already showed its opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. However, the BJP led NDA government is going ahead with its agenda to pass the Bill,” said All Assam Students’Union president Dipank Kumar Nath while reacting to the development on Monday.
“We are going to oppose the Bill tooth and nail. No move to execute the Bill in Assam will be tolerated. We are going to intensify our agitation over the bill soon,” said Nath while adding that the silence maintained by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over the development will also not be tolerated.
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has also condemned the developments and said that the organization will chalk out its agitation against the Bill from.
“We are not going to tolerate this at any cost,” said KMSS adviser and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi. Gogoi said that they would launch a massive mass movement from tomorrow against the Bill.
“It’s unfortunate for the people of Assam. BJP has taken a step against the interest of indigenous communities of Assam. We appeal all the indigenous people of Assam to come out jointly against the Bill for the interest of greater Assam,” said Assam leader of Opposition in Assam Legislative Assembly and senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia.