The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a regional political party of Assam, which is also a partner in the coalition government in Assam led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), conducted its signature campaign against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 at Mangaldai in Darrang district on Monday.
The AGP, which has threatened to leave the government if the Bill is passed in the Parliament, has launched a statewide signature campaign against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.
The AGP along with most of the organisations and political parties including the Congress have protested against the NDA government’s move to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 for granting Indian citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – but not Muslims – who entered India from different neighbouring countries.
In connection with the signature campaign against the Bill, the Darrang District Committee of the AGP organized a public protest meeting on the bank of ‘Borpukhuri’ in the heart of Mangaldai town.
Several senior party leaders including party’s MLA from Kamalpur constituency Satyabrata Kalita, former Union Cabinet Minister and party’s General Secretary in the Central Committee, Birendra Prasad Baisya, former MLAs Hiren Kr Das and Mahendra Mohan Choudhury addressed the gathering.
The AGP leaders in their speeches vehemently opposed the Bill and reiterated that they would not allow implementation of the Bill in the State under any circumstances.
Meanwhile, more than one thousand people including party workers participated in the day-long signature campaign by putting their signatures against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as informed by Swaraj Kr Deka, General Secretary of the Darrang District Committee of the party.