JPC: Outfits batting for citizenship bill to meet next month

GUWAHATI: Several organisations will meet in Guwahati next month to build a common platform to push the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The anti-talk faction of the proscribed militant outfit Ulfa had triggered an explosion at Panbazar area in Guwahati on Saturday.

The outfit said explosion was targeted at organisations opposing updation of National Register of Citizens and supporting settling of Hindu Bangladeshis.


Chief adviser of All Bodoland territorial council Bengali Students Federation Shaymal Sarkar told ET, “Organisations supporting the bill will meet in Khanapara in Guwahati in November where we may form a joint platform supporting the bill. Anti-talk Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah must understand that it is not easy to silence voices in democracy. There are around 80 lakh Bengalis in Assam. It is not possible to muzzle our voices by guns and bombs. We will say what we want.”

The bill aimed at making minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for applying for Indian citizenship is under the consideration of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) of both the Houses.

JPC had visited Assam and Meghalaya to interact with people and organisations on the bill. Following the visit, there was protest against the bill in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

Some organisations are supporting the bill in the Bengali-speaking dominated Barak valley in Assam.