AGP threatens to quit alliance with BJP in Assam if Citizenship Bill is passed in Parl

On a day RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha quit the NDA, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) threatened to walk out of its alliance with the ruling BJP in Assam if the "obnoxious" Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is passed in Parliament.

AGP president Atul Bora has written to BJP chief Amit Shah, saying the party will have no alternative but to "repudiate the existing alliance" in case of such an eventuality.

The letter, whose copy was given by Bora to reporters at a press conference here on Monday, stated that the AGP is fully committed to the implementation of the Assam Accord of 1985. The draft National Register of Citizens (NCR) of the state had been prepared in accordance with the Accord.

The AGP has been opposing the Citizenship Bill, saying if it is passed, the NRC exercise in the state would be of no use.

The party had also taken out a rally against the bill here in October.

"We are to bring to your notice that if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is passed in Parliament, the provisions of Assam Accord and the ongoing preparation of National Register of Citizens will be totally frustrated and the Assamese language, culture and demography will be changed," the letter signed by Bora said.

"Hence, if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is intended to be passed in the Parliament we will have no other alternative except to repudiate the existing alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party," it stated.

"It is pertinent to mention herein that the Asom Gana Parishad is fully committed to the implementation of the provisions of the Assam Accord and hence we can never support the obnoxious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016," the AGP said in the letter.

Bora, along with Kesab Mahanta, the AGP working president, and Phani Bhusan Choudhury of the party are ministers in the BJP-led government in Assam.

The letter to Shah, which is also signed by Mahanta, said, "It is reliably learnt that the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, in spite of our protest, including the protests resorted to by various organisations of indigenous people of Assam before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, is to be placed before Parliament."
But the understanding between the two parties was "violated" by the Centre, by introducing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in Parliament as well as by promulgating the ordinances on the subject, it stated