Assam: Barak bill support a rumour, says Forum

GUWAHATI, June 23, 2018: Assam, Indigenous Forum- a joint platform of over 30 organisations on Friday said Bangladeshi migrants have joined the RSS in Barak Valley in south Assam and launched a campaign in support of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which is vehemently opposed in the Brahmaputra Valley.

Sahabul Islam Choudhury, who represented the indigenous people of Barak Valley at a media conference organised by the Forum here, said, "false information and media reports" were floating in the Brahmaputra Valley over Barak Valley residents' support to the bill.

"A lobby comprising illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh has spread the rumours with the help of RSS and they are trying to mislead the media," he alleged.

Alleging that some Barak politicians were backing the anti-Assamese lobby, Choudhury, president of Barak Valley Chamber of Commerce, said, "We will never allow Barak Valley to become a second Tripura. Most of the organisations which submitted memoranda to the joint parliamentary committee in support of the bill have no base in Barak Valley. Unfortunately both the BJP and Congress leaders backed those people."

"It is unfortunate that some prominent personalities of Assam have made controversial comments on social media about the people of Barak Valley. They even suggested separation of the valley from Assam," Hazarika said.

He said they would meet people across the state to strengthen the bond between the people of Barak and Brahmaputra valleys and to jointly oppose the bill.

Pro-talks Ulfa leader Mrinal Hazarika, member secretary of the Forum, was present at the media briefing. The Forum has recently formed a committee in the Barak Valley to raise awareness on the bill.

Hazarika said, "The scenario displayed in local media is not real. It is false that 90 per cent people of the valley support the bill." He said the administration had not only prevented them from organising a public meeting on the bill in Silchar on May 30 but had also not allowed them to organise a meeting indoors.

Source: The Telegraph

Featured image: The Telegraph