NEW DELHI, Dec 14 - A day ahead of the Winter Session of the Parliament, the Assam Congress unit today launched a scathing attack on the State BJP, asking Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to clarify his stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
In two separate press conferences addressed by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and APCC president Ripun Bora, accompanied by the president of Mahila Congress and Lok Sabha member Sushmita Dev, the Congress targeted the BJP for its stand on the NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
�Assam is geographically and culturally feeling threatened due to the threat of creation of Nagalim and the State Government�s support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The very foundation of the Assamese society has been shaken,� asserted former Chief Minister Gogoi.
Welcoming the Supreme Court�s order with regard to the NRC, Gogoi said that the final list should be published within six months of the publication of the draft NRC.
He added that the Citizenship Bill violates the Assam Accord, which set 1971 as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of the illegal migrants from Assam.
Echoing similar sentiments, Ripun Bora, referring to former BJP Lok Sabha member Kabindra Purkayastha�s statement, said the Congress would not allow citizenship on the basis of religion. It should be on the basis of the cut-off date of 1971, he maintained.
Purkayastha on Wednesday had met the Chief Minister and demanded that an ordinance be brought by the Centre promulgating the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The cut-off date proposed in the Bill is December 31, 2014 for Hindu Bengalis.
Charging the BJP with playing politics with the sentiments of Hindu Bengalis, Bora said the BJP is trying to grant them citizenship through the back door.
Claiming that the Bill is a hoax, Sushmita Dev, who is also a member of the Joint Parliamentary Group, wanted to know whether the Centre is planning to scrap the Assam Accord by bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. She said that the Constitution does not allow citizenship on the basis of religion. The Supreme Court will strike down the Act. The BJP�s plan is to divide the people of the State, she alleged.
