A delegation of AGP leaders met Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar in Patna on Saturday and sought his support in opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Assuring all possible support to the AGP on this issue, Nitish told the delegation that his party had adopted a resolution at its national executive meeting held in New Delhi on July 8 this year opposing the contentious bill, terming it a clear threat to indigenous languages and culture of Assam.
The AGP delegation, led by Assam agriculture minister and AGP president Atul Bora, comprises water resources minister Keshab Mahanta, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, food and civil supplies minister Phani Bhusan Choudhury, MLA Brindaban Goswami and general secretaries Birendra Prasad Baishya, Ramendra Narayan Kalita and Kamala Kalita. Several JDU leaders, including the party’s national general secretary K.C. Tyagi, were present at the meeting which lasted for around two hours.
During the meeting, they also discussed the current political scenario in the country.
The AGP leaders were given a rousing welcome by JDU leaders and members on their arrival at Patna airport.
Though both the AGP and the JDU are members of the BJP-led NDA, they are opposing the bill, which the BJP is pushing for.
Shiv Sena, another NDA partner, had also supported the AGP’s stance on the bill.
Bora said if the bill is passed it will violate the Assam Accord and endanger the very existence of the indigenous people of the state.
Though the Assam Accord pegs March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal migrants from the state, the bill seeks to give citizenship by naturalisation to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who came to India before December 31, 2014.