Forum against infiltration to contest Lok Sabha polls in Assam

Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), a forum against infiltration, said it will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Assam if its demands are not met within a week. Stating that it was frustrated with the failure of successive governments to protect the rights of indigenous people, PVM demanded that a legislation be brought for protecting and reserving rights of indigenous people over land, jobs and natural resources.

It also demanded re-verification of the updation process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and an assurance that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will not be introduced again in Parliament.

PVM convenor and Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika told media persons in Guwahati on Wednesday, “Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) became irrelevant in a span of 29 years while ruling BJP took anti-indigenous people stand in just two and a half years of rule in Assam by bringing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.”

Hazarika said there is no party which represents the interests of indigenous people. “Presently, the parties seek to represent the interests of illegal Muslim Bangladeshi or Hindu Bangladeshi,” he said. Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said while addressing party workers in Dhemaji, “Assam is for indigenous people and the sons of the soil will continue to rule the state in the future as well. No outsider can take the upper hand here undermining the locals.”

Sonowal said the state government had decided to give land patta (rights) to 100,000 people this year so that the rights of indigenous people over their land can be protected. He said a committee for protection of land rights of indigenous people of Assam, headed by Hari Shankar Brahma, has been constituted by the state government for sustaining land rights of the locals and that a land policy would be formulated soon so that there are no landless people in the state.