All India Mahila Congress president and Silchar MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday said former BJP minister Kabindra Purkayastha should stop doing politics over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Purkayastha, alleging doublespeak by Dev, had claimed at a programme here recently that she had opposed the bill during a meeting of the joint parliamentary committee on October 23 and that she should quit politics.

Dev told reporters here that her stand on the bill was clear and she wanted unconditional citizenship for the persecuted migrants.

“A senior leader like him (Purkayastha) should avoid indulging in filthy politics over the bill. It is time that we, irrespective of our political and ideological differences, should come together and raise a strong and united voice for the people of this valley,” she said.

Dev said people (who support the BJP) are pinning their hopes on Purkayastha and people (who support the Congress) are banking on her and they (Dev and Purkayastha) should rise above party lines and support the people. “Keeping all our differences at bay is the need of the hour,” she said.

Purkayastha hails from Silchar in Assam’s Barak Valley, which largely supports the bill.

On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Dev said the decision to re-verify the documents of citizens whose names have been included in the final draft NRC was “inhuman”.

“People have suffered a lot in getting their names enlisted in the final draft NRC and now comes the decision of re-verification. This is absolutely inhuman. We will raise our voices against it,” she said.

Silchar BJP MLA and former Assam Deputy Speaker Dilip Kumar Paul told The Telegraph over phone on Wednesday evening that Dev should be “ashamed” of herself for saying different things at different places over the issue.

“She says something in Delhi, something else in Dispur and something else in Silchar,” he said.

Paul said the root cause of the problem (citizenship to persecuted migrants) was because of the Congress and for this people have been suffering for years. He said the BJP’s stand on the issue had always been clear and it was committed to providing citizenship to persecuted migrants.