NDA-ally AGP to move SC seek exemption of Assam from immigrant foreigners’ directive

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a key ally in the BJP-led Assam government, on Saturday announced that it will approach the Supreme Court to seek exemption for the state from the Centre’s recent directive on immigrant foreigners.

The party reiterated its stand against any move that undermines the spirit of the Assam Accord of 1985, which was signed after a prolonged anti-foreigner agitation that claimed thousands of lives.

“We have decided to file a writ petition before the Supreme Court, asking for Assam’s exemption from the order,” AGP vice-president and former MP Kumar Deepak Das told reporters. “Any step that seeks to dilute or go against the Assam Accord will be protested vehemently by our party,” he added.

The Centre’s directive, issued under the newly implemented Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, allows Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2024, to stay in the country without valid travel documents if they fled religious persecution.

Unlike the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which fixed December 31, 2014 as the cut-off date for non-Muslim immigrants to become eligible for Indian citizenship, the latest order extends the entry deadline by another decade as grounds for non-prosecution.

Asked whether AGP will continue its alliance with the NDA, Das said no decision has been taken on that matter. “Last evening, we had a party meeting in which it was decided to approach the apex court. We have full faith in the judiciary and believe it will rule in our favour,” he said.

The AGP had earlier filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking exemption for Assam under the CAA, which is still pending before the court.