New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Sunday in a Facebook post reached out to the people of North East India saying that his party is fully committed to ensuring the protection of the interests of the North Eastern states.
"We are completely committed to ensuring the protection of the northeast states and the interests of the people here. Congress promises we will immediately return the 'Citizenship Amendment Bill' (CAB) presented by the BJP government against the will of the people of northeast states. We will make sure that no valid citizen of India is left to join the National Register of Citizens," said Rahul.
The Congress president's poll promise comes at a time when the BJP has displayed its commitment to implement the NRC across all states in the country.
Speaking at a public meeting in Kalimpong, Darjeeling on April 11, BJP party president Amit Shah had said "We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs".
"For us national security is supreme. We would ensure that each and every Hindu and Buddhist refugee gets citizenship of this country," he added.
Shah's comments received heavy backlash on social media, with many alleging that he is trying to bring "unrest" in the state and the country.
The BJP is especially hoping to make inroads in West Bengal with the NRC and CAB agenda, with party leaders making constant attacks on the TMC government over its stand on the two bills.
"I have information that the workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) are misleading the people about these two bills. Please don’t fall in their trap. These bills are meant to return the lost dignity of these people who are facing atrocities," PM Modi had said at a public meeting in Buniadpur, West Bengal.
The contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill that sparked protests all over North East India, is also a major poll promise and highlight in the saffron party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.
The manifesto said the bill had to be passed “for the protection of individuals of religious minority communities from neighbouring countries escaping persecution".
This has renewed talks about the controversial bill that promises to grant citizenship to six minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India had created unrest and led to massive protests across the northeast.
The bill that has already been passed in the Lok Sabha could not be introduced in the upper House of Parliament, when the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on February 13.
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