Veterans also say no to citizenship bill. Former CM and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta says Assam is not a dumping ground for illegal migrants.

New Delhi: Assam Agitation veterans, including former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Tuesday strongly opposed the citizenship bill and called for expulsion of all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from the state.

Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016, the controversial bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 by granting citizenship rights to the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The bill has already invited wrath from various groups in Assam, where the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, especially from Bangladesh, was released last month.

Assam is not a dumping ground for illegal migrants, said Mahanta, a senior leader of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) that was borne out of the six-year-long Assam Agitation, in 1985. The AGP is an ally of the ruling BJP government in Assam.

“Assam is not a dustbin”, said Mahanta.

He was speaking at a national seminar on ‘Illegal influx of foreign nationals in Assam and implementation of Assam Accord’ held at Press Club of India in the national capital Tuesday.

Echoing similar sentiments, Sandeep Sharma, secretary of Asam Sahitya Sabha, the apex literary body of the state that works for the promotion and preservation of Assamese language and culture, wondered, “Will Delhi take the burden of these 40 lakh people if they are not deported? People in the cities of India should think from their own perspectives.”

He was referring to the 40 lakh names that did not figure in the final draft of the NRC.

Kumar Dipak Das, convener of the Asom Andolan Sangrami Manch, a platform of Assam Agitation veterans, expressed fears that the Assamese people could be become minority in their own land if illegal immigrants are not expelled from the state.

The speakers also expressed apprehension that the if the bill is passed, then the illegal Hind migrants left out of the final NRC list could be eligible for Indian citizenship.