Former Chief Minister of Assam and veteran Congress leader Tarun Gogoi made an appeal to the people of Assam to stand united against the Centre’s proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
“I urge all my Assamese brothers and sisters to stand united against the Citizenship Amendment Bill(CAB) so that it is not formulated into a law,” said the three-time former Assam Chief Minister reacting to Union Minister Amit Shah’s statements over the possible implementation of the Bill.
It may be mentioned that the BJP Chief while indicating that the Centre might revive the Bill asserted that the it will not affect the rights of the Northeast people under the provisions of Article 371. He was speaking at the fourth NEDA Conclave at the Srimanta Sankardev International Auditorium in Guwahati.
The Congress leader lashed out at Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma for not standing against the Bill and working towards the safeguard of the indigenous people of Assam. Gogoi appreciated the representatives of the neighbouring states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram for voicing their opinions against the passage of the Bill.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to the people belonging to the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who have become the victims of religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and entered India on or before December 31st, 2014. It may be mentioned that the bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on January 8th, 2019 but lapsed in the Rajya Sabha.
Criticizing State Agriculture Minister and Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) president Atul Bora, Gogoi said that it is “unfortunate” for the Minister to have remained mum on the state issues.
The Congress leader also expressed his resentment on the National Register of Citizens(NRC) exercise and claimed the final list to be a “waste paper”.
Gogoi recently dashed off a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi expressing his dissatisfaction with NRC exercise.
The Assam government on August 31st, 2019 officially released the final National Register of Citizens(NRC) list where names of 3,11,21,004 persons were found eligible for inclusion leaving out 19,06,657 persons including those who did not submit claims.
