Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: Assam CM urges BJP workers to stay vigilant, engage in discussions

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday urged BJP workers to stay vigilant and engage in discussions and deliberations with the public to remove any doubts regarding The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

This comes amidst discussion over the Bill in Lok Sabha.

"I urge our BJP karyakartas to stay vigilant and check the spread of misinformation. Let us all engage in discussions and deliberations with the public to remove any doubts regarding the #CitizenshipAmendmentBill," Sonowal tweeted.

He said that it has been 34 years since the Assam Accord was signed.

"Since then numerous governments came and went, who only indulged in power-grabbing for themselves. None of them was committed to fight for the people of Assam," he wrote in another post.

"It is important to realise that the #CitizenshipAmendmentBill is for the whole of India and not only for Assam. But a section has maligned the image of the state by spreading misinformation that only Assam will have to again bear the burden of illegal immigrants," he added.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

Through this Bill, Indian citizenship will be provided to the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from the three countries to India till December 31, 2014, to put an end to them being treated as illegal immigrants in the country.