GUWAHATI, Dec 19 - Adoption of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, will be an infringement of the historic Assam Accord and if the legislation is passed by Parliament it will make the 1985 accord redundant and also take away the entire purpose of updating the NRC, said former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Addressing a press conference here today, Gogoi said that the Bill, if passed, would invalidate the Assam Accord. �If the Bill is approved it will make the Assam Accord redundant. It will also take away the very purpose for which the NRC is being updated,� he said.
Gogoi said that the BJP-led regime at the Centre is making a deliberate attempt to give citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus.
The former Chief Minister added that the governments of West Bengal and Tripura have also made clear their opposition to the Bill.
Asked how many foreigners were suspected to have been residing in Assam during his government�s tenure, Gogoi did not give an exact figure but said there were many D-voters, of whom some were later able to prove their Indian citizenship.
He also expressed concern at the Centre�s continued silence on the framework agreement signed with NSCN (IM).
�Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said yesterday that Assam�s boundaries will remain intact. But will the power of the State government remain intact (in areas claimed by proponents of Nagalim)? How can the boundary remain intact if Nagalim comes into existence? Nagalim and Nagaland are two different things. Let the Centre clarify the doubts and state clearly that the framework agreement will remain confined only within the geographical boundary of Nagaland,� said Gogoi.
He said the Congress party has scored a moral win from yesterday�s poll results in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
�Congress may have lost the electoral battle, but we have won morally. BJP will find it difficult to bounce back from the setback it has received in Gujarat. Yesterday�s results have proved that Narendra Modi�s dream of a �Congress-mukt Bharat� has been rejected even by voters of Gujarat. It also proves that the politics of polarisation and Hindutva will not help Modi retain the Prime Minister�s chair in the long run,� said Gogoi.
Asked about the possibility of the Congress forming an alliance with other parties in Assam, Gogoi said that if Left parties and other like-minded organisations show any interest then things can move in that direction.
He, however, categorically ruled out any alliance with the AIUDF. �AIUDF is a communal party. We will never join hands with any communal party,� he said.