Assam on boil, Sangma slams passage of bill

Guwahati: Amidst ongoing protests against the citizenship amendment bill in Assam, Megahalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday said that it was very unfortunate that a controversial bill, which was opposed vehemently in the Northeast, was passed in Parliament.

Informing that he was going to hold a discussion on the bill with his National People’s Party leaders to take a call on whether to end tries with the BJP, Mr Sangma told reporters, “”We are looking into this development and going to discuss it on our party forum with senior party leaders. As you are aware, our party is present in almost five Northeastern states. Therefore, I will need to call all the party leaders and take a call on this.”

It is significant that present government had passed a Cabinet resolution opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The Bill, which has been opposed vehemently in Assam, has created fear that it will allow citizenship to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, who entered India after March 1971. Illegal migration has been a sensitive issue in the northeast.

Meanwhile, protests against the Citizenship Bill continued in Assam on Wednesday with agitators blocking roads and marching with their clothes off in several parts of the state.

Agitators waved black flag and tried to stop the convoy of Assam BJP president Ranjeet Dass in central Assam’s Nagaon district while activists of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity and 70 organisations protested outside central government offices and also tried way through the barricades to the state secretariat, leading to a scuffle with police.

“Police had to resort to mild lathicharge and fire rubber bullets to disperse the protesters who refused to move back despite warnings. Some of them were also taken into custody to prevent deterioration in law and order situation,” police said.

BJP spokesperson Mehdi Alam Bora resigned from the party, saying the Bill would harm the Assamese society and nullify the Assam Accord.

 In Golaghat’s Numaligarh area, members of Asom Aikya Manch took to the streets with their clothes off to protest against the Bill.

At Digboi, the agitators tried to block a highway to stop Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal from attending Gorkha Mahatsov. They were, however, dispersed by the police.

The agitators have also threatened that they would not allow locally produced oil, petroleum products, coal, forest products and limestone to be taken out of the state.