by Bhupen Goswami (PNI)

Guwahati : The Asom Gana Parishad and Bharatiya Janata Party are clearing their decks for formal split today as both the party president in an identical and choreographed way addressed news conferences in their respective party head quarters simply to buy some time. If the AGP shot off another letter to the BJP State President Amit Shah warning of split if the citizenship Amendment Bill(CAB) is passed, the BJP also left the matter of AGP to their central leadership. Timing, modus operandi and tenor carries unmistakable “time buying” move by both the parties. There are two camps within the AGP. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta camp, which is larger and stronger, are in favour of coming out of the BJP right way and veering the party towards the grand opposition alliance. On the other hand the Atul Bora- Keshav Mahanta camp want to hang around with the NDA. The party insiders of both the parties informed that today’s pres conferences were actually to keep Prafulla Kumar Mahnata at bay for the time being.

The BJP is worried that Mr. Mahanta might take the party UPA way and attempts are on to thwart them. At this moment Mr Mahanta commands more MLAs then Atul Bora –Keshav Mahanta. However Assam political scene is likely to see some interesting development in the next 72 hours following the results of five states as well as Panchyat poll.However,Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who was the signatory of the Assam Accord, on Monday said that the government of India while signing the Assam Accord in 1985 had assured to update the National register of Citizens (NRC) of 1951 but failed to take any follow up action.

Asserting that now the Government of India must take up the issue of deportation of Bangladeshi nationals with its counterpart in Dhaka, Mr Mahanta said that demand for updating the NRC of 1951 was first raised by All Assam Students Union in a letter to the Prime Minister on January 18, 1980. Mr Mahanta, who himself as the president of AASU had signed the letter, said that again on February 2, 1980, the AASU submitted a memorandum to the PM, in which the demand for updating the NRC was raised again. Mr Mahanta said that the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) came to power in the later part of 1985 and in the following year, efforts were made to start the process of updating the NRC.Former chief minister of Assam Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and leader of Bharatiya Janata Party ally and National Democratic Alliance constituent party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), in conversation with National Herald accused the Narendra Modi Government of using the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam for political gains. Demanding immediate withdrawal of the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act 1955 (Amendment) Bill 2016, he told NH that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not fulfil even a single promise he made to the people of Assam during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign. The AGP is a junior partner in the BJP-led government in Assam, with three of its MLAs serving as ministers.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was once a prominent leader of the AGP, before later switching over to the BJP. Accusing the BJP of “majority appeasement”, Mahanta said that the BJP government is trying to change the definition of illegal migrants by amending the Citizenship Act 1955. By doing so, the BJP wants to provide citizenship to illegal Hindu migrants who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, alleged Mahanta. Since its introduction in 2016, the AGP has been vociferously protesting against the bill, which is presently under consideration by a joint committee of Parliament. “Except Muslims, BJP will also provide citizenship to Sikh, Buddhist and Jains who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan which is a clear violation of the Assam Accord,” he added.