AS-CITIZENSHIP BILL-EXPEL

BJP expelled its Barak Valley

leader Pradip Dutta on Sunday, two days after threatening

Assamese speaking students for protesting against the

Citizenship Bill at Assam University.

Dutta has been expelled for breaking the party

discipline and taking a "stand against the party's ideology

and position", the expulsion letter by Assam BJP general

secretary Dilip Saikia said.

The letter also said Dutta has been expelled from the

primary membership of the party as per the instruction of the

state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass with immediate effect.

Dutta had on Friday courted controversy by threatening

Assamese speaking students in Bengali-dominated Barak Valley

that their admission in Assam University at Silchar would be

barred if they protested against the Citizenship (Amendment)

Bill.

Dutta, a local leader of the saffron party known for

making controversial statements, issued the threat after a

section of students of the Assam University raised their voice

against the controversial Bill.

"I warn the Assamese (speaking) students of the

university that you don't indulge in politics and study only.

Think about the future. We will be otherwise forced to bar

admission of Assamese students in the university," Dutta was

heard saying in local news channels.

"I am writing to the vice-chancellor of the

university asking him what step he is taking against the

students for opposing the Bill", Dutta had said in Bengali.

Buckling under Dutta's threat, Assam University on

Saturday banned protests inside the campus with immediate

effect without prior permission of the vice-chancellor.

In an order, Assam University registrar Sanjib

Bhattacharjee directed that no procession/dharna or any sort

of gathering of people within the campus without prior

approval of the authorities is strictly prohibited until

further order.

Cotton University Students Union had filed a complaint

at Pan Bazar police station in Guwahati, while another case

was lodged at Nagaon by Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra

Parishad against Dutta for making the communally provocative

statement.

Several organisations, including the All Assam

Students' Union (AASU), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS)

and Students Federation of India (SFI), have condemned Dutta's

threat.

Protesting against the statement, ULFA (pro-talk)

general secretary Anup Chetia had said such people are backed

by the "government lobby" to fuel "feelings of communalism"

between Assamese and Bengali speaking people.

A different section of Assam University students

Thursday came out in support of the Bill, while another had

taken out a candlelight vigil on Wednesday to protest against

it.

The bill seeks to amend Citizenship Act 1955 to grant

Indian nationality to people from minority communities --

Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from

Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of

residence in India instead of 12 even if they don't possess

any proper document. It has been opposed by a large section of

people and organisations in the Northeast.