GUWAHATI, March 24 - The Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, which has been fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court on the validity of Section 6 (A) of the Citizenship Act, today came down heavily on the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for not submitting an affidavit before the Supreme Court in favour of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Mahasangha�s working president Matiur Rahman said that in connection with the organisation�s PIL (562/ 2012), the then Manmohan Singh-led Congress government submitted an affidavit which goes against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
�This act of the then Central government goes against the rights of the indigenous people of Assam. Later, we had personally met MoS (Home) Kiren Rijiju and submitted a memorandum urging the Central government to submit an affidavit which is in sync with the United Nations charter. Rijiju had promised to act on our plea. But even after more than two years, the Central government is sitting on the matter,� Rahman said.
He said this act of the Central government shows that it is against the indigenous people of Assam and a section of youth-student leaders in the State have been silent despite knowing everything.
�The people should be conscious of the anti-Assam role of the BJP and be cautious,� he added.
