Guwahati: The Asom Songrami Mancha, a platform of civil society leaders and activists, has threatened that the ruling BJP will face a movement bigger than the 1980s’ Assam students’ agitation if it pushed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.
A day before the Winter Session of Parliament is going to start, Morcha executive president Adip Phukan said: “Irrespective of our differences in ideology, the civil society organisations and various unions from across the state will stand united against the Centre’s move to pass the bill. The BJP will face the biggest mass movement after the Assam agitation.”
The BJP-led Central government is set to introduce a new version of the bill — a key BJP promise aimed at granting citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The AASU-led Assam agitation was a mass movement against the influx of foreigners, especially from neighbouring Bangladesh. It started in 1979 and ended with signing of the Assam Accord in 1985.
