Hunger strike from June 7 in demand to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016

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The ‘Separate Barak Demand Committee’ has announced a hunger strike demanding clearance of the citizenship bill swiftly. The demonstration will start from June 7, from the Martyr Khudiram Bose’s statue, the committee officials said at the press conference yesterday. The spokesperson at the press conference was the renowned poet and journalist Atin Das and ‘Amra Bangali’s’ Sadhan Purkayastha and Shuvidip Dutta.

Chief Adviser of the committee Atin Das, said in a press conference that no provision was made about the citizenship of refugees in the Indian Constitution, which has resulted in severe harassment of the Bengali Hindus, who were put under the hammer during partition. “Bengali Hindus, especially in Assam, are still suffering due to the issue of citizenship. There is harassment happening everyday in the name of NRC. So citizenship amendment bill 2016 can be the sole protector of the Bengali Hindus in the region.” He also said that partition of India has divided people into two states. Citizenship promises are also there in the constitution but sadly there is no special arrangement for the displaced people. So it is very important to pass the citizenship law bill.  Atin Das on the other hand supported the long going demand of separating Barak Valley from Assam as an independent state. He said, “This is the right time. This bill and NRC proved again the partiality that still exists in Assam.”

Sadhan Purkayastha said, “The Bengalis of Assam are quite anxious; there is a need to sort this issue soon. Since the Joint Parliamentary Committee came in, the first noise that voiced against the mater came from the Brahmaputra valley. It has been seen that the Employees council also supported ASHU in voicing their opinions against the bill. But in Barak Valley, the council going with the regional sentiments supported the amendment. In this regard, we thank the Barak Employee Council for their separate position.”

Separate Barak Demand committee president Subhadip Dutta alias Maloy said “The citizenship bill must be passed forth immediately. We will sit on the footstep of Khudiram statue on hunger strike from June 7 to demand this amendment immediately. However, if a Bangladeshi Muslim has arrived in India after March 25, 1971, they must be “pushed back” in Bangladesh – in this case, no compromise can be made “.

He also said that despite the separation of language and culture, the Barak Valley is the victim of the plot of the Assamese nationalist. The existence of the Assamese population is insignificant in this valley; in this case there is no justification for imposing unequal agreements in the name of protecting the Assamese culture, tradition and heritage.

The officials of the agency also said that this committee has full support in providing citizenship of refugee Hindus who have been persecuted from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Like the Gujarat and Rajasthan, our citizenship law must be enforced in northeast India.