NEW DELHI, April 25 - The Asom Sattra Mahasabha (ASM) today submitted a fresh memorandum to Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chairman Rajendra Agrawal opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
A three-member delegation of the ASM led by its president Jitendra Nath Pradhani called on the JPC chairman at his residence and submitted a revised memorandum expressing its opposition to the Bill. The other members of the delegation were Manmohan Kalita and Delhi ASM branch vice president Hare Krishna Dev.
The ASM has been on the backfoot ever since its office-bearers submitted a memorandum supporting the Bill during a hearing of the JPC recently, triggering a mass protest in the State.
Later, talking to this newspaper, Pradhani said they conveyed to the JPC chairman that the earlier memorandum submitted by Kusum Kumar Mahnata and Akhil Mahanta did not represent the opinion of the Asom Sattra Mahasabha and it was their personal view.
�We had to mention this because the JPC chairman asked why we are changing our memorandum,� the ASM president said, adding that they have pleaded for withdrawal of the first memorandum.
The ASM has made it clear in its memorandum that it supported the cut-off date March 25, 1971 as provided in the Assam Accord. �Any foreigner living in Assam irrespective of their religion has to be detected and deported,� Pradhani said.
