Assam: 70 organisations protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016

As many as 70 organisations, led by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), hit the streets here on Friday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, demanding that it should be scrapped.

KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi, while speaking to ANI, said that if the proposed bill is passed, then the Assamese people will become a minority in their own state.

"We are protesting against the bill. If this bill is passed, Assamese citizens will become a minority here. We are totally against the passing of the bill. We demand the government to scrap the bill, else we will take drastic steps," he said.

Underlining that the protest was being held to save democracy in the nation, Gogoi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of attempting to create a "Hindu nation" by trying to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

"In our constitution, it talks about secularism. However, the BJP and the RSS are trying to create a 'Hindu nation' by attempting to pass this bill. We have been protesting against its passage, but the government is not paying heeds. We will not approve such a bill, and we will continue to fight and emerge victorious in the end," added Gogoi.

Several anti-citizenship bill protests have been held in Assam in the past several months.

The bill was recently introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014.