Citizenship Bill: AGP pulls out of BJP govt in Assam

New Delhi, January 7 

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Monday announced it was pulling out of the BJP-led coalition government in Assam over the Citizenship Amendment Bill saying its "last-ditch attempt to convince" the Centre to withdrew the proposed legislation failed.

 After a meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here, AGP president Atul Bora said: "We tried to convince the Centre that the Bill was against the Assam Accord and will nullify the ongoing updating of the National Register of Citizens...But Singh told us clearly that it will be passed in Lok Sabha tomorrow. After this, there is no question of remaining in the alliance". The proposed legislation seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the AGP and several parties and organisations have claimed that it will have an adverse impact on the demography of the sensitive border state.

 There is, however, no immediate threat to the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government as the BJP 61 MLAs, besides the support of 12 members of the Bodoland People's Front and the sole Independent legislator.

 In the 126-member House, the AGP has 14 MLAs, of whom three, including Bora, are ministers.

 Asked if the ministers have tendered their resignations, Bora said, "We will do that after reaching Guwahati". Later, Bora told reporters: "We felt betrayed at the BJP's attitude towards the bill as when we entered into the alliance, we were convinced Prime Minister Narendra Modi was committed to resolve the issue of illegal migrants...We never dreamt that the BJP could do this to the people of Assam. We now regret entering into an alliance with the BJP". He also said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal refused to meet them when they had sought an appointment to discuss the issue with him as "probably he could not face us".

"We made a last-ditch attempt today to convince the Centre not to pass the Bill. But Singh told us clearly that it will be passed in Lok Sabha tomorrow," Bora said, adding Singh was requested not to ignore the public sentiment only for votes but it is unfortunate that they did not listen.

The BJP had promised to ensure the passage of the Bill in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The Bill seeks to amend Citizenship Act 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to people from minority communities—Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians—from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 even if they don't possess any proper document.

  The AGP and other groups in Assam have said that the provisions of the Bill will nullify the 1985 Assam Accord, which provides for deportation of all illegal migrants who had entered the state after March 1971, regardless of their religion.  

 The Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI (M) and a few other parties have been opposing the bill claiming that citizenship on the basis of religion was unconstitutional.

There were widespread protests in the state against the Bill and, for the first time, the media was also out on the street to register their protest against it, the Assam agriculture minister claimed.

A bandh has been called on Tuesday by eight influential student organisations in the Northeast and more than 40 groups in Assam to protest the Bill.

 Several groups have staged protests in Assam as well as the national capital, where a bunch of men stripped in front of Parliament House.  

In a statement in Guwahati earlier in the day, AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said the party decided at a meeting held on Friday that it would withdraw its support to the state government if the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, was passed by Lok Sabha.

 The three AGP ministers and a senior party MLA had gone to New Delhi to meet the prime minister who is yet to give them an appointment. The leaders, however, met Rajnath Singh.

 The AGP with 14 seats in the assembly had entered into an alliance with the BJP before the 2014 polls and was opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Bill since the beginning.

 The AGP has no MP in Lok Sabha or in Rajya Sabha.

The AGP had placed its reservations on the Bill before the Joint Parliamentary Committee when the panel had visited the state and also tried to mobilise opinion against the bill among NDA constituents such as the JD (U) and the Shiv Sena, and opposition parties.

Bora said the AGP is thankful to the parties who supported it and opposed the Bill.

"We had met the prime minister, the home minister and the JPC chairman and requested all to withdraw the Bill. We thought that being in the government, we can convince the central leadership not to pass it," he said.

"We had categorically said that we will not allow the Bill to be passed at any cost and tried till the last moment," he added.

Urging the people of Assam to join in the fight for existence, Bora said the party will announce their next course of action after reaching Assam. PTI