A BJP MLA on Monday said the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, are part of a “planned conspiracy from within the party” to ruin Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s image.
The Congress waded into the controversy that BJP legislator Rituparna Baruah generated, with former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi claiming the ruling “saffron party is caught in a fight of ego” between Mr. Sonowal and Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“A group based in Golaghat is funding the protests heavily. I feel that someone from inside the party is associated with the conspiracy. People from the Opposition parties might also be involved,” Mr. Baruah, who represents the Lahowal seat in Dibrugarh district, said at a public function the Chief Minister attended on Monday.
“The protests against the Bill and Mr. Sonowal are planned activities to destroy his image,” Mr. Baruah said.
Mr. Sonowal has been maintaining that the BJP will take a call on the Bill after the Supreme Court-monitored exercise to update the National Register of Citizens is over by June 30. He has been under fire from NGOs who fear the Bill, if passed, will open the floodgates for Hindu migrants from Bangladesh. Paranoid about being outnumbered by outsiders, Assam had witnessed a violent agitation (1979-1985) for driving out illegal migrants. The Assam Accord that ended the agitation prescribes March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting foreigners.
The issue has been so sensitive that BJP legislator from Chabua, Binod Hazarika, threatened to quit if the Bill is passed to settle “Hindu Bangladeshis” in Assam. He vowed to oppose the Bill at a cultural programme on Saturday.
Non-BJP front
The State Congress said the BJP has been losing popularity because of the Bill. Mr. Gogoi referred to “reports of differences within the BJP” to claim that the rivalry between Mr. Sonowal and Mr. Sarma was taking a toll on the governance in the State.
Mr. Gogoi also said the Congress was “interested to talk” to the Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People’s Party for a Karnataka-like arrangement if they walk out of the alliance with BJP. “Forming an alternative government is a possibility if the AGP-BPF take a clear stand,” he said. Last week, Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque had requested anti-Bill legislators of the BJP to join the Congress. The disgruntled BJP legislators include Mr. Hazarika and Atul Bora.
