The Asom Gana Parishad had in October took out a rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati.
In yet another setback for the BJP before the General Elections, the Asom Gana Parishad on Monday withdrew support from the saffron party-led government in Assam over Citizenship Bill. The announcement in this regard was made by AGP president Atul Bor.
“We made a last ditch attempt today to convince the Centre not to pass the Bill. But Singh told us clearly that it will be passed in Lok Sabha tomorrow. After this, there is no question of remaining in the alliance,” PTI reported Bora as saying after meeting the home minister. The announcement followed AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s statement here that the party would withdraw support to the government in the state if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in passed by Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, a day after stoking controversy with his “Jinnah’s legacy” comment, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said Hindus in the state will become a minority within five years if the Citizenship Bill is not passed. On Sunday, Sarma had said, “People are concerned that we are trying to bring somebody (outsiders), which is false. Without that Bill, we are surrendering ourselves to the philosophy of Jinnah… This is a fight between Jinnah’s legacy and India’s legacy.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, aims to give citizenship to Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Jain and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The AGP is opposed to the Bill as it believes it will destroy Assam due to an influx of Bangladeshi Hindus.
The Asom Gana Parishad had in October took out a rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati.
In the 126-seat Assembly in Assam, BJP has 61 MLAs. Its alliance partners Bodo People’s Front and AGP have 14 and 12 seats respectively. However, there is no threat to the government despite AGP’s withdrawal, as they are comfortably placed above the half-way mark.
