Citizenship Act: Congress, AIUDF urges Assam Speaker to call special session

The Opposition Congress and the AIUDF have separately requested the Assam Assembly Speaker to call a special session to discuss the concerns expressed by the people of the state on the amended Citizenship Act.

Assam has been on the boil for the past several days as thousands of people have come out on the streets to protest against the amended Citizenship Act. Two persons were killed in police firing on Thursday, while an oil tanker driver was charred to death when the vehicle was torched on Saturday.

"You must be aware of the situation in Assam following the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 by the Lok Sabha," Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Debabrata Saikia of the Congress wrote to Speaker Hiten Goswami.

He said people including students and senior citizens took to the streets across Assam to express their pain and grievances over the Bill that threatens the existence of the indigenous people.

"The situation became serious when the Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha leading to the imposition of curfew in various parts of the state," Saikia said in his letter on Friday.

The amended Act will negate the Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people as enumerated in the Assam Accord, the Congress leader claimed.

There is a possibility that the demographic pattern of Assam will be changed following the implementation of the amended Citizenship Act and the people will lose their right to decide their political fate in their own state, he said.

"As states in India have been constituted on the basis of language and not a religion, the existence of Assam will be threatened," Saikia said.

Another opposition party, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), also sought a special session of the Assembly to discuss the issue.

"Mass agitation is going on in Assam against the CAB which has been passed by both the Houses of Parliament. Our party's stand is against the Bill. We consider it will go against the interest of Assam," AIUDF Legislature Party leader Hafiz Bashir Ahmed, chief whip Mamum Imdadul Haq Choudhury and two other MLAs wrote to the Speaker on Friday.

The Speaker had on Thursday said, "Though I should not comment on the Act as I am discharging Constitutional duties as Speaker, but as a person working for the nation and community through the Assam Agitation I feel that the doubt created by this Act is not baseless".