AGP holds huge rally against Citizenship Bill

Guwahati: The regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which is also a partner in the BJP-led alliance government, on Tuesday staged a massive protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Bill and asked the BJP-led government at New Delhi to dump the legislation into the dustbin if they really respect the Assam Accord.

In the protest rally, which coincided with the proposed meeting of the joint parliamentary committee with the home and external affairs ministry to take their view on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, AGP president and state minister Atul Bora — who defined the Assam Accord as “Gita, Bible, and Quran” for the party — said that any attempt to dilute it would be disastrous for the indigenous people of the state.

“The Assam Accord is Gita, Bible, and Quran for us and I want to ask the BJP leadership whether they respect the Assam Accord or not or the blood of martyrs of the Assam Movement, who laid down their lives for the state,” said Mr Bora.

On many earlier occasions, he threatened to sever ties with BJP if the Central government decided to grant passage to the controversial bill.

The bill is under consideration of a joint parliamentary committee of both the Houses.

“We contested the 2016 elections with BJP following discussion with our grassroots workers and the people of Assam. However, we are ready to come out of the alliance if the BJP government goes ahead with the Citizen-ship (Amendment) Bill 2016,” said AGP leader and state water resources minister Keshav Mahanta.

The AGP is a partner of the BJP-led alliance government in Assam and the party has three legislators in CM Sarbananda Sonowal’s Cabinet.