Krishak Mukti Sangram Parishad stage protest in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: Hundreds of anti-Citizenship (amendment) Bill, 2016 protestors were arrested in front of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport here this morning when they had assembled to show black flags to BJP national president Amit Shah, who is arriving here to chair a strategy meeting for LS polls with BJP’s regional allies.
Protestors of Krishak Mukti Sangram Parishad (KMSS), who lined up along the exit road of the airport with black flags were involved in a scuffle with BJP workers before the police stepped in.
Assam Police additional director general of police Mukesh Agarwala said that the KMSS protestors were allowed to carry out their democratic protests but had to be arrested so that the VIP movements on the same road was not hampered.
BJP in the state is in a tight spot over centre’s proposal to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 ahead of the coming LS polls. The bill proposes to make Hindus, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists who have fled from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan as victims of religious persecution eligible for Indian citizenship. The amendment bill of 2016 proposes to reduce the period of residency from 11 years to six years to be eligible for Indian citizenship.
Shah will be addressing the member parties of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) - a conglomerate of regional parties of the northeast - that it put together with a 'Congress-mukt northeast' agenda after its 2016 victory in Assam.
After expanding the party’s footprint in the northeast over the past two years, Shah will be laying the groundwork for the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the region, where 25 seats are up for grabs. NEDA has 13 regional parties from the eight northeastern states. All Neda members, with the exception of the Mizo National Front, are in power in collaboration with BJP in their respective states. Congress-ruled Mizoram will go to the polls in December.
"The meeting on May 20 will chalk out a detailed roadmap for BJP and its allies for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Amit Shah will give the necessary directions regarding preparations for the polls," president of the state unit of BJP, Ranjeet Dass, said.
In 2014, the NDA had won 11 Lok Sabha seats in the northeast. BJP on its own had won seven in Assam and one in Arunachal Pradesh. Its allies Naga People's Front (NPF) and Sikkim Democratic Front had won a seat each. NPF, however, left Neda after the Nagaland assembly election earlier this year, where it contested against BJP and its new ally Nationalist Democratic Democratic Party.