CAB 2019: Your language, culture will not be affected, PM assures North-East

In view of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured Eastern and North-Eastern states that their culture and language will not be affected and urged people to not be misled by the Congress.

"I assure every state of the East and North-East. The traditions, culture and language of Assam and other states will not be affected at all. The central government will work with state governments for your development. This is our priority. Don't be misled by Congress' statements," Modi said at a rally here.

"I assure the people of Assam, especially the youth, that they should not worry. Nobody can snatch your rights. Your culture, language and tradition will be safeguarded by Clause 6 (of Assam Accord)," he added.

The Prime Minister said that attempts have been made to fan violence and unrest in the North-East and said that most of the region is out of the ambit of the Bill.

"There are attempts to fuel tensions in the North-East region. Most of the region is out of the ambit of this Bill but politics of Congress and its allies depends on illegal immigrants," Modi said.

"Congress and their allies are adding fuel to fire in the North-East. People are being misled that people from Bangladesh will come here. I want to say that those who already have Indian citizenship, be it Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jain and Christianity, the Bill is not applicable to them. Citizenship will be given to those people who came to India before December 31, 2014," he continued.

Accusing the Congress of not doing anything for the welfare of the refugees, the Prime Minister remarked, "Congress in the past had promised relief to persecuted minority refugees but never did anything for them. The condition in which they were living in Pakistan, similar treatment was given by Congress governments to them."

Assam's Guwahati city and Dibrugarh district have been placed under indefinite curfew till further orders in the wake of protests after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The administration had suspended mobile Internet services for 24 hours from 7 pm on Wednesday in ten districts of the state -- Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup.

Amid the unrest in Assam, the Prime Minister in a tweet earlier today assured the people of the state that "no one can take away their rights, unique identity and beautiful culture".

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 sailed through the Parliament after Rajya Sabha passed it on Wednesday. As many as 125 members of the Upper House voted in favour while 105 MPs voted against the Bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this week.

The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.