CPI MPs to boycott PM events in Agartala on Feb 9 in protest against Citizenship Bill

In protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the Communist Party of India will boycott the functions planned in Agartala on February 9 to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the three party MPs said Friday.

The three MPs from Tripura - Rajya Sabha MP Jharna Das Baidya and two Lok Sabha MPs of the party - Jitendra Choudhury and Shankar Prasad Dutta said in a joint statement issued here said the passage of the bill will "grossly" harm the cause of the northeast in the long run and pose severe fracture to the secular feature of the country.

"To record our protest and express solidarity with the collective and spontaneous movement against the move of the Modi government to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. We the three MPs of Tripura have taken conscious decision to boycott the functions at Agartala to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow on February 9, 2019," the statement signed by the three MPs said.

They also appealed to the PM to withdraw the controversial bill from Rajya Sabha, honouring the "genuine sentiments and anguish" of the people in general and the northeast in particular.

The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who fled religious persecution. It was passed by Lok Sabha on January 8 and is awaiting the nod of Rajya Sabha.

Modi is set to address a rally in Agartala and inaugurate several projects, including a railway line and a new block at Tripura Institute of Technology campus.

The new railway line, spanning 23 kilometres, will connect Garji to Belonia in South Tripura district.

The prime minister is also scheduled to unveil a statue of Tripura's erstwhile ruler Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, the sources said.