With Assam on the boil over the citizenship bill, state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday sought to allay people’s fears saying the proposed law will not have an adverse impact and asserted that implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord will usher in new hope of “political stability”.

Protests erupted across Assam and other northeastern states, including Tripura after the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Sarma, the BJP’s key strategist for the Northeast, said there is some resentment in Assam against the bill, but expressed confidence that there will be no “long-term political fallout” owing to the proposed legislation, which he described as a “historic one”.

Incidents of stone pelting on the residences of chief minister and Union ministers have also been reported. “This bill will help various refugees who came because of religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will get citizenship. Of course, there is some resentment in Assam but I am sure that this bill will not have an adverse effect,” Sarma said.

He said home minister Amit Shah has promised that the implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord will pave the way for new hope of political stability in the state. “...implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord which promised by home minister Amit Shah will create a new hope of political stability in Assam. So, I believe that there will be no long-term political fallout.”

Sarma, who was present in Parliament on Wednesday when the bill was passed by Rajya Sabha, claimed that all regional parties of the Northeast supported the legislation, even those which are official allies of the Congress-led UPA.

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (The Telegraph file picture)

Mahanta stand

The citizenship bill is a “divisive tool” that will damage the composite culture of the Northeast and must be immediately scrapped, two-time Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said on Thursday as massive protests against the proposed legislation rocked the region.

The CAB has been brought in to create a Hindu-Muslim divide, said the former student leader who spearheaded a six-year movement demanding deportation of illegal Bangladeshis in the late 1980s.

The state will continue to “burn” if the Narendra Modi government does not realise the seriousness of the situation and respect the sentiments of the people, the AGP leader said.

Asked why several leaders of the party he had founded in 1985 are defending the CAB and why the party’s alliance with the BJP is still intact, Mahanta said it is but a small group and does not reflect the AGP’s views.

Mahanta also cautioned the Centre that the situation in Assam may take a “dangerous turn” and any delay in taking the right decision may cause unimaginable harm to the region.

“The indigenous people of Assam and the Northeast are staring at an existential threat to their composite culture. The proposed law will open the floodgates of illegal foreigners to the region. We are determined to fight it out till our last breath,” said Mahanta, who was Assam chief minister from 1985 to 1990 and then from 1996 to 2001.