New Delhi: A day after the Central government notified Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, the Congress on Tuesday said that it will start a massive mass movement against the contentious act in Assam. “CAA is unconstitutional. It goes against the fundamentals of the historic Assam Accord,” said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Bora to ETV Bharat.
Accusing BJP, Bora said that the party (BJP) wants to get political mileage during the Lok Sabha elections and that is why it has notified the CAA just ahead of the announcement election schedule. “Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that he would never allow those people coming from across the border to Assam after 1971. In fact, deportation of Bangladeshis was one of the main agenda of the BJP…,” said Bora.
He said that the united opposition in Assam under the leadership of Congress will launch a massive anti-CAA agitation. “All Assam Students Union (AASU), Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and all other mass-based organisations will give a united fight against CAA. If necessary we will approach the High Court against the controversial act,” he said.
Bora said that he attended the Congress Election Committee (CEC) of the party in Delhi on Monday. Stating that the party high command is finalising the names of the party’s candidates for Assam, Bora said, “Mallikarjun Kharge has been bestowed with the responsibility to elect the candidates for Barpeta, Jorhat and Nagaon.” Referring to the directives issued by the Congress high command, Bora said that strict actions will be taken against any party member found involved in anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, All Assam Students Union (AASU) chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya reiterated that CAA violates the basic principle of the Assam Accord. “We will continue our fight against CAA as it goes against the basic principle of the Assam Accord. We can’t accept people coming from across the border after 1971 to settle in Assam,” Bhattacharya told this correspondent.
The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the then Central and State governments, along with AASU, to end the decades-long Assam agitation against the Bangladeshis coming to India illegally. “Assam can’t be a dumping ground any more for the illegal foreigners. We have fought against the illegal infiltrators. But now, the government has vouched to give citizenship to all those who come on or before December 31, 2014,” said Bhattacharya.
Lodging a strong protest against CAA, Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi appealed to INDIA bloc chairman and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to raise their voice against CAA. “In a letter addressed to Kharge, Gogoi said that the act is discriminatory and goes against the basic principles and spirit of the Indian constitution.
“There is concern that this will lead to significant infiltration from neighbouring countries to Assam, jeopardising the demographic, linguistic, and cultural existence of the Assamese people,” said Gogoi. Ever since its inception in 2020, Assam Jatiya Parishad has been vehemently opposing CAA.
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