Centre ready to pass Citizenship Bill: Kabindra Purkayastha

Guwahat (Assam)i, September 16, 2018:

BJP leader and former MP, Kabindra Purkayastha, said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had assured him that the Centre would take appropriate measures to safeguard the interests of persecuted minorities of Bangladesh who migrated to India.

“We had a meeting with the Union Home Minister and he assured that the Centre would protect the interests of the refugees by passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016,” Purkayastha said.

Amidst reports that the Narendra Modi government is gearing up to pass the Bill, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) reiterated that it stood opposed to the Bill.

“We cannot accept the Bill as it is against the interests of indigenous communities. If the Bill is passed, we will withdraw from the state government. There cannot be anything bigger than the interests of “jati” (community),” AGP president Atul Bora said.

The Centre seeks to pass the Citizenship Bill to grant citizenship to the non-Muslim immigrants of Bangladesh besides Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India till December 31, 2014. The Assam Accord, which the All Assam Students’ Union had signed with the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985 following Assam Agitation, however, says the illegal immigrants, irrespective of faith who entered India after March 24, 1971, will be detected and deported.