As PM Narendra Modi arrives, AGP activists stage torchlight rally

GUWAHATI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at Borjhar in Guwahati to attend a series of functions slated on Saturday, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) began a torchlight march a few kilometres away in protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Police immediately swung into action to stop the rallyists which was heading towards the Dighalipukhuri area, located near the road through which the PM was heading to the Raj Bhavan.Already, Section 144 has been imposed in the city to restrict any kind of protest. Besides Guwahati, similar protests were also held in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, Morigaon, Nalbari, Barpeta and other places.
AGP has snapped ties with the ruling BJP after the bill was passed in Lok Sabha in January. “The AGP has remained firm on its stand to not allow any immigrant, irrespective of their religion in the state. The Prime Minister should understand the sentiments of the people of the state and respect their demand and immediately withdraw the bill,” said AGP president Atul Bora, who had submitted his resignation from the post of state’s agriculture minister after the party came out of the government.
Former chief minister Prafulla Mahanta, senior leader Phani Bhushan Choudhury, former MP Biren Baishya and many others participated in the protest rally. The regional party alleged that the state unit of BJP has turned an official function into a party meeting. On Saturday, the PM is slated to attend several official functions at Changsari, on the outskirts of the city, before addressing a public rally.
According to AGP, the bill would make the Assam Accord ‘redundant’. While the Accord identified anyone who entered Assam before the cutoff date of March 25, 1971, as a citizen of India, the bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who had entered India before December 31, 2014.
“We want to remind the PM about his own promise of making Assam free of Bangladeshis. Today, he is desperate to bring in the bill to get votes. Modi must not think that the people of the state are not going to accept the bill,” said AGP spokesperson Manoj Saikia.
After the AGP came out of the alliance, the party has been trying to unite all the regional forces in the northeastern states against the bill. BJP’s allies in the North East Democratic Alliance — a platform of non-Congress parties — have also threatened to break their alliances if the Centre pushes the bill.