PM Narendra Modi to visit Assam amidst Citizenship Bill ire

The state BJP is enthused that the PM is coming to Assam to address the rallies close on the heels of the visit of BJP president Amit Shah, who had addressed two rallies on Thursday.
PM Narendra Modi (File Photo | EPS)
PM Narendra Modi (File Photo | EPS)

GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday hit the campaign trail in Assam which braces for three-phase Parliamentary elections.

During his day-long visit, Modi will address rallies in Northern Assam’s Gohpur and Upper Assam’s Moran. Gohpur and Moran are towns falling under Tezpur and Dibrugarh Parliamentary constituencies respectively, both currently held by the BJP.

The state BJP is enthused that the PM is coming to Assam to address the rallies close on the heels of the visit of BJP president Amit Shah, who had addressed two rallies in Kaliabor and Jorhat Parliamentary constituencies on Thursday.

“We are greatly encouraged that the PM is coming to our state to address the rallies. His visit will, no doubt, give momentum to the BJP’s election campaign. Also, people will get to know what the NDA government did in the past five years for Assam and the Northeast,” BJP leader Dewan Dhrubajyoti Maral told this newspaper.

The BJP is optimistic about a turnout of over one lakh people at both rallies.

Gohpur and Moran lie on the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra respectively. On the north bank, flood and erosion are two major issues. Devastated by the floods over the years, hundreds of the marooned are still living on river embankments. Given the perennial floods, several organisations in the state, particularly All Assam Students’ Union, have for long been demanding that the deluge be declared a “national problem”.

There is also simmering anger among people living on both banks of the river over BJP-led NDA government’s move to pass the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Parliament to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants belonging to six persecuted non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who migrated till December 31, 2014. It remains to be seen if the PM says anything to assuage their anger.
 

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