Opposition Congress, AIUDF walk out from Assam assembly over CAB, NRC issues
Guwahati, Nov 28 (IBNS): The first day of the winter session of the Assam assembly witnessed chaotic situation as opposition members staged massive protest and walk out at the early hours of the session over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The opposition Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had staged walk out from the assembly.
Both Congress and AIUDF MLAs had demanded the cancellation of the question hour and hold a discussion on the CAB and NRC issues.
But, the speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami refused the oppositions demand and said the question hour could not be cancelled and the oppositions created ruckus in the assembly and displayed placards in front of the speaker.
The oppositions staged walk out from the assembly.
On the other hand, the Congress MLAs also staged protest against the CAB and the proposed national NRC in front of the assembly.
AIUDF MLA Hafiz Bashir Ahmed Qasimi said if the CAB is passed in the parliament, then the historical Assam Accord will be meaningless.
“Today is the first day of the winter session of the Assam assembly and we had submitted an adjournment motion to discuss the present serious issue regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is opposed by the almost all the parties and organizations of the North East region. If the CAB is passed in the parliament, then the historical Assam Accord will be meaningless. So, placing upon the importance of this subject, we have raised the matter in the assembly to discuss, but unfortunately, the speaker has not allowed and so we have walked out,” the AIUDF MLA said.
On the other hand, former Assam Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tarun Gogoi said that, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is against our own constitution.
“The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will definitely violate the Assam Accord. According to the Assam Accord, the cutoff date is 25 March, 1971 for identifying the foreigners. Whereas the cutoff date is 31 December 2014 for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB). Besides, the CAB is against our own constitution. Secularism is our basic structure and they want a distinction between Hindu, Muslim, Christian. It violates the provisions of 14 and 15 of the Indian constitution,” Tarun Gogoi said.
The winter session of the Assam Legislative Assembly has begun from today and is scheduled to go on till January 6 next year.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
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