The All Assam Surrendered ULFA Samittee has threatened to take up arms if the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is not scrapped.
In a memorandum submitted to Assam chief minister the organisation appealed to the Centre not to differentiate among illegal migrants on the basis of religion but to weed them out from Assam as per the Assam Accord.
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The Accord which had had been signed by representatives of All Assam Students Union (AASU) and of the Central government in 1985 had agreed March 24,1971 as the cut-off date on which foreigners would be accorded Indian citizenship. Any migrant who had entered Assam after that date would have to be deported.
The memorandum said that despite the Centre’s assurances that the illegal migrants would be identified and deported nothing has been done.
Moreover, after talks with the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in 1991, several ULFA cadres came over ground in the hope that the Centre would remain true to its words.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been voted to power in the belief that the BJP’s poll promise to the people that Assam would be freed of all foreigners if they were elected, but forget about keeping this promise, they are bent on doing just the opposite and filling this place with foreigners, the memorandum said.
The Surrendered ULFA demanded that the state government take immediate and urgent steps to clear Assam of all Illegal migrants and in the eventuality that the Bill would be made into an Act, the Samiti which has about 4000 members would not hesitate to pick up arms again to rid the state of foreigners.
The Surrendered ULFA also criticized chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal‘s role as he was looked upon as a Jatiya Nayak for his initiative to withdraw the draconian IMDT Act but he had also betrayed the confidence of the people by siding with the BJP.
The Samittee further demanded that like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, Assam should also be declared a tribal state and inner line permits issued to those who want to visit the state.