In Assam, Congress leaders seek referendum on Citizenship Bill

A divided Congress in Assam has sought a referendum on the “controversial” Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as the Joint Parliamentary Committee ended its three-day hearing in Assam on Wednesday.

Organisations batting for rights of the indigenous people are opposed to the Bill that the Bharatiya Janata Party had introduced on July 19, 2016 to grant citizenship to non-Muslim minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan fleeing religious persecution.

“We want a referendum on the issue to make things clear,” former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Wednesday. His “public vote” suggestion coincided with a signature campaign against the Bill launched by the Asom Sahitya Sabha, an influential opinion-shaping literary body.

“The BJP came to power in Assam on the promise of protecting jaati-maati-bheti (indigenous communities-land-foundation). This Bill bodes ill for the people of Assam besides threatening to lit a communal fire,” Mr. Gogoi said.

Divided by valley

But while the Congress in largely Assamese-speaking Brahmaputra Valley opposed the Bill, the party’s unit in the Bengali-speaking Barak Valley in southern Assam supported it. The Congress in Barak Valley was among 255 organisations that met the 16-member JPC headed by BJP parliamentarian Rajendra Agarwal over two days.

Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, Congress MLA from southern Assam’s Karimganj district, said citizenship should not be denied to anyone figuring in the 2014 electoral rolls even if his or her nationality is in doubt. Former Congress minister Gautam Roy, supporting the Bill, took the middle path. “The migrants should be distributed across India and Assam should not be made to bear their burden,” he said.

The Congress had during Mr. Gogoi’s 15-year reign until 2016 batted for granting asylum to Hindus and other minorities facing religious persecution in Bangladesh. A cabinet resolution was taken in 2011 for giving refugee status to such minorities.

A year later, Mr. Gogoi submitted a memorandum to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying people who flee due to discrimination and religious persecution should not be treated as foreigners.