Guwahati: Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia on Sunday called for a special Assembly session to pass a pending resolution for upholding the provisions of the 1985 Assam Accord.

Saikia urged chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to advise governor Jagdish Mukhi and Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami to summon a special session to pass the private member’s bill which was moved earlier by Congress legislator Abdul Khaleque.

The Accord assures detection and deportation of illegal migrants living in Assam.

“The situation prevailing in the state over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, makes it imperative for the House to pass without delay the pending private member’s resolution in question. A united stand by all legislators appears all the more necessary following the escapist attitude displayed by Sonowal during his interaction with a delegation of editors on Saturday,” Saikia said in a statement.

On Saturday, the chief minister assured a group of editors that the government would not take any decision on the bill that goes against the wishes and interests of the people. Saikia, however, said Sonowal “failed” to assert that he would stand up and fight to protect the interests of the state.

Assam has witnessed widespread protests against the bill that seeks to allow persecuted Hindus, Christians, Jains, Parsis, Sikhs and Buddhists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to apply for Indian citizenship. The Brahmaputra Valley erupted in protests saying it would make the indigenous people minority as the bill would pave the way for lakhs of Hindu Bangladeshis to become Indian citizens.

The Congress had earlier demanded a referendum on the bill. The Guwahati unit of the Congress on Sunday launched a signature campaign against the bill at Ulubari.

Prabajan Virodhi Manch, an organisation led by Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika, termed Sonowal’s statement as “weak” and alleged the BJP had failed to address issues concerning indigenous people. The Manch has been demanding a legislation reserving land rights and jobs for those whose forefathers were Indian citizens in 1951.

The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad on Sunday said they will organise a statewide motorcycle rally to protest against the bill. AJYCP general secretary Palash Sangmai demanded Sonowal to categorically reveal his and the BJP’s stand on the bill.

SUMIR KARMAKAR Telegraph India