New Delhi: With just two phases of polling left for the ensuing Lok Sabha election, influential All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Wednesday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is playing "vote bank politics" with the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) issue.
"This party is counting on votes. How many votes it will get in Bengal, how many votes it will get in Assam and so on... this bill is totally a communal bill because citizenship in India can't be determined on the basis of religion," said AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya in an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat.
The AASU has been spearheading a movement against the controversial bill. After the central government passed the bill in the Lok Sabha, AASU and several other organisations including Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) have met leaders of the opposition and sought their support to oppose the bill.
The agitating organisations also called on leaders of the NDA allies including Shiv Sena to rope them in against the contentious bill.
"BJP is adopting a double standard. At one hand BJP said they support the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam, which is based on the historic Assam Accord and on the other hand they are bringing the CAB, which is against the historic Assam Accord," said Bhattacharya.
He said that according to the Assam Accord people entering Assam after March 25, 1971, should be deported "but CAB said people entered till 2014 should get the Citizenship... Assam and Northeast or any other states of India cannot be a dumping grounds of foreigners."
BJP president Amit Shah in his recent election campaign across India has reiterated that if BJP comes to power, his Government will pass the CAB in the Parliament.
The Citizenship amendment bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in January this year seeking amendment the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide Citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and who are Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian.
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