Union minister Rajen Gohain today claimed that rehabilitation of Hindus from Bangladesh would not harm the state and Assamese identity.
"Rehabilitation of Hindus from Bangladesh in Assam will not harm the state and Assamese identity. People of the state, knowing the BJP's stand on the issue, had voted it to power last year," he said at a press conference here.
The minister of state for railways said the BJP would get the Citizenship Amendment Bill passed in Parliament.
On alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) threatening to break its ties with the BJP if Hindus from Bangladesh were rehabilitated in Assam with the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Gohain said, "It is their decision and I cannot comment on it."
"The BJP has not been secretive about its stand. It has been publicly saying that it is in favour of rehabilitation of Hindus from Bangladesh," he asserted.
The Hindus from Bangladesh would be protected as per the provisions of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950 that sought to guarantee the rights of minorities in both the countries after Partition and to avert another war between them, the senior BJP leader said.
Gohain said, "(Former Assam chief minister) Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had committed a Himalayan blunder by making the illegal foreigners' detection cut-off year as 1971 when he signed the Assam Accord in 1985".
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