The Congress in Assam on Thursday vowed to cancel any ordinance on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that the NDA government might bring ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, once it came to power.
Reaching the party headquarters here in a "victory procession" from the airport after arriving from New Delhi, state Congress chief Ripun Bora claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was "strategically defeated" due to the initiatives led by his party in the Rajya Sabha as regards the bill.
The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha, which adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the final day of the Budget Session.
Addressing a press conference, Bora said, "Though we had the numbers to defeat the bill in the Rajya Sabha, we did not allow them (Centre) to table it at all, even after it was listed for two consecutive days."
Bora, a Rajya Sabha member, said the Congress worked with other opposition parties and even got support from some smaller NDA constituents in opposing the bill, which, he claimed, was anti-constitutional.
"However, one danger is still there. The government may bring an ordinance in place of the bill before the Lok Sabha election. In such a case, we assure you that it will be cancelled after the polls as the Congress is going to form the next government at the Centre," Bora said.
Till the Congress was there in Assam, the interests of the state would always be protected and the Assamese community would always be safe, he added.
"(Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, (Assam Chief Minister) Sarbananda Sonowal, (state minister) Himanta Biswa Sarma and (BJP leader) Ram Madhav had very arrogantly said the bill would be brought, but they failed due to the strategies of the Congress," Bora said.
He thanked the people and the groups opposed to the bill such as the AASU, the KMSS, the NESO, RTI activist Akhil Gogoi and Sahitya Akademi awardee Hiren Gohain, for their sustained protests against the legislation in Assam and other north-eastern states.
Massive protests broke out across the region after Modi had announced in Silchar on January 4 that the bill would be passed as soon as possible in Parliament.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in the country, instead of the current 11 years, even if they do not possess any document.
The indigenous people of the region are apprehending that if the law is enacted, it will endanger their livelihood and identity.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) founder and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had urged the Centre on Wednesday not to promulgate any ordinance, after the bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.
The AGP had severed its ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state on January 7 over the bill, asserting that the legislation would make the Assam Accord meaningless.
According to the Assam Accord, all illegal immigrants who have come to Assam after 1971, irrespective of their religion, have to be deported.
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