Guwahati: The Patriotic People's Front Assam (PPFA) wants a healthy debate over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to ascertain the reality. In statement, the organization said careless comments without considering the ground reality is of no use. "Motivated elements had been claiming, as if, the concerned bill is Assam centric and once it turns into a law, millions of Bengali Hindu people from Bangladesh would be dumped in the State and the practice will continue for decades. Those biased individuals have cleverly concealed that the asylum seekers belonged to Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities had already taken shelter in India and there is no provision in the amendments to bring more Bangladeshi (or Pakistani and Afghan national) after 31 December 2014," the statement reads.
The forum also urged the State chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to clarify the content of the bill seeking to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 with the provisions to grant citizenship to those persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh after due processes, so that the indigenous populace do not get misguided and panicky. PPFA reiterated its old stand to detect all immigrants from the then East Pakistan (and later Bangladesh) with the cut-off year of 1951 as it is applicable to the entire nation.
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