‘Won’t let Assam turn into another Kashmir,’ says Amit Shah on NRC

Addressing a rally in Assam’s North Lakhimpur, Amit Shah said that the NRC had been brought in to identify infiltrators and that the BJP would identify and deport all such infiltrators.

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said the government will not allow Assam to become another Kashmir and will ensure that National Register of Citizens (NRC) will do its job of picking out every infiltrator in the state.

He also said that the sacrifice of the CRPF troopers killed in the suicide bombing in Pulwama last week, will not go waste as there was no Congress government at the Centre and stressed that the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB will be re-introduced once the party returns to power in May.

“We will not let Assam turn into Kashmir. This is our commitment, we will execute NRC (national register of citizens) again and again and pick out each and every infiltrator from Assam,” Shah said while addressing a convention of the Bharti Janta Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing in Lakhimpur, 380 km northeast of Guwahati. He has consistently reiterating his stand of picking out infiltrators in Assam through the NRC.

Shah also stressed that the government will ensure that the sacrifice of the CRPF troopers killed in Pulwama will not go in vain.

“This cowardly attack by Pakistan, by Pakistan inspired terrorists where 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives ... their sacrifice will not go in vain because this time at the Centre it is not a Congress government but your strong BJP government,” he said.

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The BJP chief also made a strong pitch for another term for the Modi government and sought votes to enable the saffron party to win all seats from Northeast. Shah, who was on a day long visit to Assam, also laid the foundation stone of the BJP’s state office in Guwahati.

“Narendra Modi government does not compromise with national security. If someone is thinking that because of a sudden cowardly attack, you will win the battle, you are mistaken. Whether it is Northeast or Kashmir we will uproot terrorism,” Shah said.

“When it comes to fighting terror, be it the battle on the diplomatic front, answering a bullet with a bullet of even entering Pakistan for a surgical strike, the BJP government has responded to it,” said Shah, who started his address with homage to the CRPF personnel including Maneswar Basumatary, from Assam. He said among all world leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the strongest political will to fight terrorism.

Shah, who was on the first visit to the region where protests had raged over the contentious citizenship bill which lapsed last week after it failed to make it to the Rajya Sabha, said the Modi government would introduce the bill once again after it is re-elected.

“I want to tell people of Assam, the way demographic change is happening in Assam, if you don’t bring the citizenship bill, the people of Assam will be in danger, remember! The people of Assam also understand this,” he said.

Attacking the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) which quit the alliance government in the state in protest over the CAB, Shah referring to the recent local elections said, “In the Panchayat elections, the opposition made CAB an issue, we also made it an issue, and including AGP all the parties who would oppose the CAB, the great people of Assam have wiped them out.”

He said the AGP could not do much when it contested alone and should take note of the people of Assam who are electing the BJP.

AGP, the regional outfit which was born out of the Assam Accord quit the alliance saying the CAB violated the Assam Accord which promised detection and deportation of all illegal migrants irrespective of their religion and would nullify the ongoing NRC.

Shah attacked them on their turf. “Ten years of AGP government, 25 years of Congress government, 20 years of Congress at the Centre, what did they do with the Assam accord? Did they bring the NRC? Did they stop infiltrators? They just signed the accord and fooled the people,” he said adding the BJP government will implement the recommendations of the recently formed committee to implement clause 6 of the Assam Accord after it returns to power.

Clause 6 of the Assam Accord suggests that the government has to enact constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.