GUWAHATI, March 15 - At a time when many regional organisations, including AASU, AJYCP and KMSS, have demanded implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Assam, former Chief Minister and senior AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today said that he is not in favour of ILP.
�I am not a supporter of ILP... Before going ahead with ILP, it needs to be examined whether it has any scope for being properly implemented... Once a person enters Assam through Meghalaya can the machinery be put in place to implement it,� Mahanta said during a press conference here.
He said that ILP has �plus points as well as minus points�.
Asked about negative effects of ILP, he said many high skilled workers working in sectors like oil industry in Assam will not be able to come here. He added that around five lakh people from Assam are working in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and if ILP is implemented in the southern states then all those Assamese youths will become unemployed.
Mahanta, who is also the chief adviser of the Asom Andolan Sangrami Mancha (AASM), cited various articles of the Constitution and termed the CAA as totally unconstitutional.
He said India has faced criticism in the global arena, including from the UN, post passage of the CAA by Parliament and added that Bangladesh has categorically stated that minorities are safe in that country.
�Those who come to Assam from Bangladesh will not go to other states. They will settle in Assam and the Northeast,� the former Chief Minister said. He said if more people keep coming to Assam from Bangladesh then very soon there may be a demand to make Bengali the State language.
Asked about the government�s decision to go ahead with delimitation of constituencies in Assam, Mahanta said, �What is the use of delimitation if the number of constituencies does not increase?� He expressed apprehension that delimitation may help only one particular political party.
