Opposition parties in Assam on Thursday sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu for repealing the CAA, asserting that they would undertake a ”democratic mass movement” across the state if their demand is not met.
The 16-party United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA) submitted a memorandum to Droupadi Murmu through Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.
“This act is not only unconstitutional, but it is also going to nullify the historic Assam Accord of 1985 by putting in danger the history, culture, social fabric, economy and the very identity of the Assamese people,” they said.
The UOFA urged her to intervene in the matter and direct the Centre to desist from its decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 in Assam, and repeal the ”unconstitutional and anti-national” act.
“We further inform you, if the Government of India pays no heed to it, we the opposition political parties and the people of Assam will have no alternative except to go for democratic mass movement to compel the government to repeal it,” the memorandum said. It also pointed out that there has been protests since the contentious law was introduced in Parliament in 2019, and the BJP-led government passed it on the basis of numbers by ignoring the sentiments of the people of Assam.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has recently declared that the CAA is going to be implemented in Assam before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, they said. After submitting the memorandum, Assam Congress president Bhupem Kumar Borah said: ”We will not accept the CAA at any cost, and we told it very categorically to the governor. He said that he has some limitations and will duly forward the memorandum to the President.” The UOFA also decided to seek an appointment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to register its opposition to the CAA implementation plan, and said they will write to him in this regard on Thursday.
Assam TMC chief Ripun Bora said the opposition parties will hit the streets if the government goes ahead with its plan to implement the CAA. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the president of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), claimed that the controversial law is being rolled out for ”religious polarisation” ahead of the the general elections.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here. Shah had earlier this month said that the CAA rules would be notified and implemented before the Lok Sabha polls. When the rules for the CAA are issued, the Modi government will start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014.
The UOFA, which includes parties like the Congress, TMC, AAP, Raijor Dal, AJP, CPI(M), CPI, AIFB, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party and RJD, had on Wednesday announced that a state-wide bandh will be called the very next day of the contentious act coming into force, followed by ’gherao’ of the Janata Bhawan (the secretariat).
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