GUWAHATI, Oct 27 - The Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha has opposed the Central government�s notification (issued on Thursday) that has authorised 16 collectors in seven States of the country to register the members of the minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as Indian citizens.
The 16 collectors, who have been authorised to register the minority community people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as Indian citizens, are of Raipur in Chhattisgarh; Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch in Gujarat; Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh; Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune and Thane in Maharashtra; Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur in Rajasthan; Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; and West Delhi and South Delhi.
The Union government said in the notification that these collectors have been authorised to register the people of the said origins as Indian citizens under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The Mahasangha said in a statement here today that the above notification is ultra vires and contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of India. The notification is aimed at providing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a political mileage ahead of the Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections and the 2019 general elections in the country.
The BJP is now hell-bent on passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 as an Act in parliament. The latest notification is a part of the BJP�s bid to grant citizenship to the Hindu Bangla migrants who have illegally entered the country and are staying here without any legal sanction, stated the Mahasangha.
