At a time when most of the organisationtions and political parties of Assam including the Congress and AGP opposing the move of the BJP-led Central government to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, BTC Chief and BPF President Hagrama Mohilary on Thursday said the BPF has nothing to say on the issue of the Bill and the situation arising out of it.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the oath-taking ceremony of the Religious Minority Council (RMC) of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) held at Bodoland Guest House in Kokrajhar on Thursday, Mohilary, the President of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), a partner of the coalition government at Dispur, said, “At present, the BPF has nothing to say much about the issue as the issue is related to the Assam Movement and the Assam Accord.”
It may be mentioned that while most of the political parties and organisations of Assam demand to provide citizenship on the basis of Assam Accord, the Bill seeks granting of Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – but not Muslims – who entered India from different neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and stay in India for six years.
Mohilary said, “The BPF is just a small party working for all-round development of the BTC region and for peace and harmony in the Bodoland region. It is not the right time for us to say much about the issue,” adding, “We will give our opinion at the right time.”