As part of the campaign launched by the Central Committee of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Namrup regional committee of the party also conducted the campaign in Namrup on Saturday.
The leadership of the AGP, which is also a partner in the BJP-led government at Dispur, earlier threatened to leave the government if the controversial Bill is passed in the Parliament as it goes against the Assam Accord as per which March 25, 1971 is the cut-off day to identify any foreigner.
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Also read: Assam: Huge response to AGP’s signature campaign opposing Citizenship Bill
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to the country till December 31, 2014.
Saturday’s signature campaign by the AGP was also joined by a large number of common people of Namrup and party leaders including AGP’s Namrup MLA Naren Sonowal.
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Speaking on the occasion, MLA Sonowal said, “We will accept people as Indian citizens who have been in Assam since March 25, 1971. But we will not accept anyone in Assam, who came to the State after March 25, 1971 and all those people will be thrown out from our motherland.”
Among the people who were present during the mass signature campaign included AGP Yuva Parishad’s Regional Committee President Papu Bhuyan, AGP Regional Committee Secretary Phulu Boruah, AGP Regional Committee President Tileswar Bora, Namrup Press and Society, AGP District Secretary Putul Sonowal, AGP Central Committee Member Dhurba Saikia.
More than 10,000 people of Namrup joined the mass signature campaign. The signatures would be sent to the JPC on the Bill.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 conducted public hearing on the Bill in Guwahati on May 7, 2018 while it conducted public hearing on May 8, 9, 2018 at Silchar for the three districts in Barak Valley.
While a large number of organisations, political parties and individuals came out in protest against the Bill during JPC’s Guwahati hearing, the scene was different in Silchar where most of the organisations came out in support of the Bill.