Opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, has brought rivals and allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party on the same page in Assam ahead of the parliamentary polls.
Election to the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the State would be held in three phases on April 11, 18 and 23.
On Monday, the National People’s Party said it would contest all the Assam seats to stop the BJP’s attempt to push the Bill in future.
The Bill seeks to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslims who have fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan till December 31, 2014.
‘BJP to bring it back’
The northeastern States had risen in unison to protest the Bill. Tempers were cooled after the BJP failed to get it passed in the Rajya Sabha in January, but party chief Amit Shah, during a pre-poll rally, promised to bring back the Bill if the BJP is re-elected.
“We are committed to opposing the Bill. We hope to win as many seats in Assam to be in a position to do so,” NPP convener and former IPS officer Dilip K. Bora said.
The NPP and BJP are otherwise ruling allies in three northeastern States – Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
The Asom Gana Parishad, which has not spelled out its relationship with the BJP after walking out of the alliance government following differences over the Bill, has also lined up probable candidates for the 14 seats.
Party president Atul Bora said that the AGP would make it difficult for the BJP, which won seven seats in 2014, to retain as many seats. “We are letting people know the BJP is bad news for their struggle to protect their culture and language,” he said.
“We are better off without baggage. The AGP should learn from the panchayat polls (December last year) where it went alone and fared poorly,” BJP’s Assam president Ranjeet K. Dass said.
ST status
The Congress, keen on recovering ground lost to the BJP, has also made the Bill its major poll issue. “We will bin this Bill and grant ST status to six communities,” party’s Assam unit chief Ripun Bora said. The six communities – Adivasi (tea tribe), Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi, Matak, Moran, and Tai-Ahom – have been demanding ST status for a long time.
