After walking out of the Lok Sabha over Citizenship Amendment Bill, BJP Bihar ally JDU is set to vote against the proposed Citizenship Bill in the Upper House, Rajya Sabha when it is tabled. JDU’s National spokesperson KC Tyagi said that his party would oppose the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and send a team to Guwahati to support the agitation against it.
Tyagi while talking to reporters after a meeting of JDU’s National Office Bearers held at JDU Chief Nitish Kumar‘s Residence. “We have decided to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, because it is against the spirit of Assamese ‘asmita’. The party has decided to send me and party national vice-president Prashant Kishor to Guwahati on January 27.” said KC Tyagi as reported by an English News Daily.
On asking whether the party’s move is in the light of Upcoming Lok Sabha 2019, Tyagi asserted, “Though we have not yet decided to field any candidate in Assam or any other part of the Northeast, we are an independent party and can take our stand.”.
Earlier, Party’s General Secretary Sanjay Verma said his party will oppose the bill because it will do no good to the identity and culture of Assam and the northeast. Asom Gana Parishad, (AGP), once an ally in Assam Government, a regional party with roots in the anti-foreigner movement of the 1980s, had earlier reached out to Shiv Sena and JD(U) and sought their support in its movement against the Bill. In September last year, JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had pledged his support to an AGP delegation. Allies trouble for BJP continues: AJP walks out of Coalition government in Assam over Citizenship Bill