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‘Not going to support amended Citizenship Act’: AGP’s Prafulla Mahanta repeats decision to move Supreme Court
Former Assam chief minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kr Mahanta said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act ‘will violate Assam Accord and make indigenous people of Assam, a minority here”.
The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ally in Assam, on Monday reiterated its stand against the Citizenship Amendment Act and said it will approach the Supreme Court seeking a revocation of the new law.
Protests against the CAA have rocked Assam for days now as thousands of people hit the streets to protest the amended citizenship act.
At least four people have been killed in police firing and an oil tanker driver was charred to death when his vehicle was set on fire as protesters engaged in pitched battles with the police across various cities, forcing the administration to impose a curfew.
The leader of the AGP, which had earlier backed the bill in Parliament, Prafulla Kr Mahanta said his party is not going to support the law granting Indian citizenship to immigrants of faiths other than Islam from the three neighbouring countries on the ground that they came to India due to religious persecution because they are minorities.
“It’ll violate Assam Accord and make indigenous people of Assam, a minority here. The AGP opposes it. We will go to the Supreme Court,” Prafulla Kr Mahanta said, according to news agency ANI.
The former chief minister’s comments came after two senior leaders of his party had said on Sunday that the AGP will file a petition in the Supreme Court praying for revocation of the CAA.
Phani Bhusan Choudhury, senior AGP leader and cabinet minister in the state government, said party leaders have left for Delhi to approach the top court.
“We want Brahmaputra Valley out of the purview of CAA,” he said.
He added that the party was not considering withdrawing support to the BJP.
“We will take the legal route to seek revocation of the amended Act as the indigenous people of Assam are apprehensive that their identity, language might come under threat,” said Kumar Deepak Das, a former Rajya Sabha MP.
Police in the state said the situation has improved immensely and that the day curfew has been withdrawn in Guwahati from 6am but night curfew would remain from 9pm till tomorrow 6am.
“We thank the people of Assam for following the spirit of the law,” the police said, according to news agency ANI.
Internet services, which were to remain suspended till Monday morning, have been extended for another 24 hours, in 10 districts - Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Kamrup, authorities said.
