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Updated: May 11, 2019 00:04 IST

An intervention application has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah for his statements on Assam’s National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The petition, filed by the Assam Andolan Sangrami Manch which is against the citizenship amendment bill, said Shah had stated that the citizenship bill would come first and then the NRC. Such an assertion had shocked the people of Assam and left them scared, the NGO said. It claimed the amendment to the 1955 act allows legally migrated Hindus, Sikh, Christians and Jains from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to be citizens of Assam, which would affect the interests of the indigenous people.

The petition said Shah’s statement had given “a colour of religion” in the process of updating the NRC. It has given a wrong message to the people of Assam and “is an onslaught on the judicial process of the Supreme Court.”