Dissidence in AGP and BJP in Assam has become evident after a number of functionaries and party members resigned from their posts after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to CAB, turning it into an Act.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagadish Bhuyan, who was also the chairman of Assam Petrochemicals Limited, resigned from the party on Friday, a day after popular actor Jatim Bora resigned from BJP.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Bora was also serving as the chairman of the Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation.
After resignation, Bhuyan said, “The revised Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA is anti-Assamese and I cannot be a part of such a government which has failed to gauge the mood of the people against the Act.”
Bhuyan, taking part in the mass hunger strike in Guwahati on Friday said, “Citizenship Act is against Assam and against Northeast and we will have to keep fighting against it until and unless it is scrapped.”
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Actor Jatin Bora on Thursday announced his resignation from BJP and said, “I am Jatin Bora because of the people of Assam. I will never support such an Act and I am with the people of Assam in the fight against it.”
Former Assembly Speaker and senior BJP Pulakesh Baruah resigned from the party on Friday.
BJP MLA from Padma Hazarika has also indicated that he will quit the party if the voters of his constituency who are opposed to the CAA ask him to do so.
Assam Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami has also voiced his concern regarding the CAA and on Thursday urged the government to reconsider its decision of implementing it in the Brahmaputra Valley.
He said that the new Act can cause hatred in the state and the situation in the state can deteriorate further.
Speaking to Northeast Now, a senior BJP member seeking anonymity said on Saturday, “Several grassroots workers across Assam are thinking of quitting the party.”
“Most of these workers feel that the Citizenship Amendment Act is will bring down a threat to Assamese language and culture,” he said.
They have urged the government to reconsider its decision and requested them to scrap the decision to implement the Act in Assam,” he added.
Dissidence within the AGP is also evident as several party workers have openly spoken against party president Atul Bora and Rajya Sabha MP Birendra Prasad Baishya for supporting the Act in the Parliament.
“Several members from the district level bodies of AGP have resigned over CAA,” infomred a senior AGP leader in Guwahati speaking to Northeast Now on Saturday.
“I have talked to my party colleagues and very soon some of the prominent leaders of the party will tender our resignation to the party president,” he added seeking anonymity.
“The Citizenship Act goes against the spirit of the Assam Accord and is an insult to the 860 martyrs of the six-year-long Assam Accord. We cannot accept it at any cost,” he further said.
“If they are Assamese and respect Assam Agitation, then Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta, Phani Bhushan Choudhury and Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal also resign from the government,” he added.