GUWAHATI, Jan 10 - The State unit of the CPI-M today urged the people of the State to continue their struggle against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, until it is revoked.
The party unit congratulated the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for coming out of the ruling coalition and severing its link with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by opposing �the anti-Assam and autocratic policies� of the BJP-led government.
In a statement, the State unit of the party said the Union government passed this �communal and anti-constitutional� Bill in Lok Sabha by dint of its brute majority. But, here in Assam, the Bill is confronted by unprecedented resentment and resistance of the people. All sections of people have taken to the streets demanding revocation of the Bill, it said.
The agitation has spread to other states of the NE region, too, compelling the BJP-led government to postpone the process of passing the Bill in Rajya Sabha. Thus, the people of the State have compelled the BJP to step back for now, it said.
However, the State unit said, there is no doubt that the BJP will try its level best to pass the Bill in the next session of Parliament. The BJP is obstinately sticking to its �unconstitutional and communal� stand on the issue of granting citizenship on the basis of religious allegiance. This has made it flout the foreigners- related clauses of the Assam Accord.
The Accord was the product of a national consensus. But, the BJP is more keen on its electoral prospects even at the cost of the interest of the people of Assam, said the CPM unit.
It said the people of Assam have been fighting to protect the democratic and secular foundation of the Indian republic and have been opposing vehemently the bid to grant citizenship in the name of religion. The State government led by Sarbananda Sonowal has now unleashed police brutalities against the agitationists and also taken recourse to conspiracies to divide the people on communal lines, it alleged.
In such a situation, the people should intensify the struggle against the Bill by defeating all conspiracies of the government, said the State unit of the CPI-M.
It also described the announcement of the Union government that it would implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord as another ploy to hoodwink the people of Assam. Similarly, the move to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the six ethnic groups of the State is also a trick, it said.