GUWAHATI, April 21 - Under fire for its controversial petition before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Asom Sattra Mahasabha today suspended its general secretary Kusum Kumar Mahanta and vice president Akhil Mahanta for making the submission before the Central panel �in sheer violation of the Mahasabha�s rules�.
The Mahasabha, in a hurriedly convened steering committee meeting under the chairmanship of president Jitendra Nath Pradhani, also decided to withdraw the petition submitted before the JPC.
�Today�s meeting decided to immediately withdraw the representation submitted before the JPC by general secretary Kusum Kumar Mahanta and instead place the views of the organisation on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,� a resolution taken at the meeting read.
As several organisations trained guns at the apex body of Sattradhikars following Kusum Mahanta�s representation before the JPC, the Mahasabha said it will not allow Assam to be a dumping ground of Hindu Bangladeshis.
�Assam will not take the burden of Hindu Bangladeshis. Whether they are Hindus or Muslims, all immigrants who have entered Assam after 1971 must leave the State,� another resolution stated.
The steering committee, which witnessed noisy scenes, also decided to suspend vice president Akhil Mahanta who had accompanied the general secretary to Delhi to submit the representation before the JPC on April 17.
The Mahasabha also formed a three-member committee to probe the entire episode.
The steering committee also expressed resentment over North Kamalabari Satra Sattradhikar Janardan Dev Goswami�s statement in which he sought to put forward Mahasabha�s views on the Hindu Bangladeshi issue. �He is not a functionary of the Mahasabha. We appeal to him not to make such statements on behalf of the Mahasabha in future,� Mahasabha�s president Jitendra Nath Pradhani said.
Pradhani later told The Assam Tribune that the Mahasabha was not aware that Kusum Mahanta would be visiting Delhi to appear before the JPC. �We knew he would be going to Delhi for some work, but he never told us that he would be submitting such a petition before the JPC,� Pradhani said.
A copy of the representation submitted by general secretary Kusum Kumar Mahanta before the JPC clearly states that �conferring citizenship to the Hindu population who have migrated to Assam from Bangladesh is very much necessary to save the country from Muslim demographic invasion, more particularly the State of Assam.�
Earlier, Kusum Mahanta had stated that the Mahasabha did not take any stand on the Bill in its representation before the JPC and instead mentioned about the need to safeguard the sattras.
Deepak Barua has been made the in-charge general secretary of the Mahasabha.
