Brahmaputra, Barak valleys divided over citizenship bill

Guwahati: The differences between the people of Assamese-majority Brahmaputra Valley and Bengali-dominated Barak Valley over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 came to open on Tuesday when more than 190 organisations listed to submit me-morandum in South Assam’s Barak Valley to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) supporting the proposed amendment.

The first day of the five-days long visit of JPC had witnessed an overwhelming majority of organisations and individuals from Barhamaputra Valley registering a strong opposition to the proposed amendment on Monday. Their contention was that Assam would be flooded with migrants, especially from Bangladesh, if the bill is passed. The AGP, an ally of BJP, said that the passage to the bill would put the identity of Assamese people at stake. More than 135 organisations, including political parties, various stakeholders and individuals, had submitted their views opposing the amendment during the day-long consultation here on Monday.

However, picture was just opposite on Tuesday in South Assam’s Barak Valley where majority of the organisations, stakeholders and individuals came out in support of the bill.

The Opposition Congress leaders of Brahmaputra Valley had opposed the bill on Monday but in Barak Valley senior Congress leaders including Congress MP and MLAs supported the bill and advocated citizenship for Hindu-Bengali who came to India because of religious persecution.

A section of intellectuals, political leaders, social activists and educationists from the Barak valley were seen to have been motivating the people to come out openly in support of the proposed amendment. Though, majority of BJP leaders including ministers are tight-lipped on the Citizen-ship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, MoS for railway and BJP MP Rajen Gohain came out openly to support the amendment.