Amid protests JPC hearing on Citizenship Amendment Bill begins in Assam
Guwahati, May 7 (IBNS): From celebrities to common people, representatives of 159 organisations came out to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 at a public hearing of the 16-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) led by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwala in Guwahati on Monday.
They submitted written notes to the Committee to register their protests.
Several political parties including Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), ally of BJP-led Assam coalition government, opposition Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have also opposed the bill.
Over five thousand people and representatives of different organisations from different parts of the state reached Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara in the city to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, which proposed to grant citizenship to the illegal migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India upto December 31, 2014.
The committee has four MPs from Assam including Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sushmita Dev of the Congress, and Ramen Deka and Kamakhya Prasad Tassa of the BJP.
The committee is scheduled to visit Barak valley on May 8 to take opinions and views from the people and organisations of Barak valley at Silchar.
It will visit Shillong on May 10.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
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