GUWAHATI, Nov 20 - Magsaysay Award winning activist Dr Sandeep Pandey today said that, if need be, the civil society groups and leaders belonging to the National Alliance of People�s Movements (NAPM) would not hesitate to take the legal recourse against the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which, they believe, is totally unconstitutional.
On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Dr Pandey said that giving work permits (without voting rights) to the illegal migrants who do not find their names in the complete NRC could be one of the options that the government can explore.
�Of course, if the Bangladesh government agrees to take back them, there is nothing like it. If it does not, then we will have to find some answers to the problem to the effect that human rights of any of these �stateless� population are not violated,� Dr Pandey opined while speaking to the media at a joint press conference where representatives of various organisations under the NAPM were unanimous in stating that the hidden agenda behind the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill move is to polarise the country�s vote bank on religious lines.
The NAPM, which is an umbrella setup of various organisations, is here as part of the �Samvidhan Samman Yatra�, which started on October 2 from Dandi. The yatra reached Guwahati on Monday, after which it had interactions with different stakeholders of society.
�The Bill is totally unconstitutional as it speaks about citizenship on the basis of religion,� said rights activist Priya Pillai while talking to the mediapersons here today.
�It is a threat to the secular fabric of the country. The people of Assam must be cautious against the divisive politics,� said activist Meera Sanghamitra, adding that the yatra, after travelling through 26 states, would culminate in New Delhi on Human Rights Day on December 10.
