The Asom Sangrami Mancha is preparing a road map to reach every village in the state to make people aware about the BJP-led central government’s “anti-Assam” move to re-introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and privatise Numaligarh Refinery Limited.
Mancha executive president Adip Kumar Phukan said on Thursday time has come to stand united to resist the “autocratic stance” of the Narendra Modi government. “We will persuade individuals and various organisations fighting against the controversial bill to stand under one roof,” he said, while addressing a protest organised by the Mancha at Brindaban Garden near Zoo Road Tinali here.
Phukan stressed that re-introduction of the bill and its passing will force Assam, Tripura and Bengal to accommodate millions of Hindu migrants from Bangladesh.
“Even an enemy country does not behave the way Modi government is behaving with the people of Assam. They (BJP) are not even giving space to raise our issues. The one nation, one language and one religion theory of the BJP is nothing other than a fantasy. We must fight together to scrap its dream of Hindu Rashtra,” Phukan said.
He said the Centre, in coordination with Assam chief minister Sarbanada Sonowal, was conspiring to delay completing the NRC process. “They are plotting to include millions of foreign nationals from different countries after introducing the bill. This shows the feudal mindset of the BJP,” Phukan said. He added that the BJP had no intention of repatriating “millions of foreign nationals illegally settled” in Assam and the rest of the Northeast.
Senior journalist Manjit Mahanta, former All Assam Employees’ Union president Saran Deka, among others, took part in the protest.
Members of Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Thursday staged a protest in front of the Jorhat deputy commissioner’s office against the bill. Hundreds of activists shouted slogans agai-nst Delhi and Dispur. Later, they submitted a memorandum on their demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through deputy commissioner Roshni A. Korati.
Additional reporting by Devajit Baruah in Jorhat
