Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Mahanta meets PM over citizenship Bill

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Jan 2 - Opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has said that Assam will suffer the most if the Bill is passed.

Mahanta conveyed this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi here today when he met him at his Parliament House office.

Later briefing newsmen, Mahanta said that he explained to the Prime Minister that the root cause of the problem in Assam is non-implementation of the Assam Accord. �The Assam Accord should be implemented and the NRC should be updated according to the Accord,� he said.

He opined that updating of the NRC will solve the foreigners problem to a great extent. �Therefore steps should be taken to prepare a correct NRC,� he added.

Mahanta said a major problem is that neighbouring countries refuse to take back those who are declared as illegal migrants. India should sign bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries to take back those who are identified as their citizens, he stressed.

Mahanta also dismissed as inconsequential the missing of names from the draft NRC. �Even in case of voter�s list, sometimes names are dropped or misspelt. These can be rectified,� he argued.

Meanwhile, BJP Lok Sabha member Ram Prasad Sharma today demanded that the cut-off date of March 25, 1971 should be extended to the entire country to ensure detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

He claimed that there are five crore illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the country of which 70-odd lakh are in Assam where the Muslim population is estimated to be around 1.10 crore. The BJP MP also demanded that the government facilities being enjoyed by the illegal migrants be withdrawn immediately.

Next Story