Guwahati, July 27: The Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia condemned Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju’s statement that all non-Muslim immigrants coming to India before December 31, 2014, were legal.

Rijiju said that the Hindu Bangladeshis who came to India till 2014 will not be considered as illegal migrants.

“This announcement has clearly exposed the BJP government’s conspiracy to legitimise the presence of illegal Hindu Bangladeshi migrants in Assam and is a harbinger of grief for Assam. The Assam Accord stipulates that those foreign nationals who came to Assam after March 24, 1971, will be classified as illegal migrants,” Saikia said.

He added, “Rijiju’s statements discriminating the people on grounds of religion has lowered the dignity of both the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court in view of the fact that the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is at a final stage under the final supervision of the apex court.”

Saikia also said that the concept of having “different yardsticks for grant of citizenship based on religion is alien to the democratic and secular ethos of India”.

On the other hand, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, led by peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, said people of Assam will never accept the Centre’s move “to settle the Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam for political gains”.

All Assam Students’ Union said that any more migration from neighbouring country Bangladesh will “destroy culture, language and ethnicity of the indigenous people of Assam”.

News Source Time8