Guwahati, Mar. 1 (PTI): The BJP on Sunday asserted that the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had started in Assam with opposition parties "emotionally influencing" people claiming that Bangladeshis would enter the state in droves and harm their culture following the passage of the CAA.
However, people have now realized that nothing of that sort is going to happen and the agitation has weakened, Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass told reporters here.
"An attempt was made to influence people emotionally and they got affected. A large number of people has asked me why we were trying to bring in Bangladeshis. Our people are very emotional," he said.
Dass said he along with other top leaders of the party toured 12 constituencies of Upper Assam and met over 2,400 booth committee presidents and elected representatives.
"We asked them about their sentiment on the situation since December 10. We all know that a misinformation campaign was going on claiming that over one crore Bangladeshis would come and attack the culture, language and identity of the Assamese people," the BJP leader said.
Dass said he asked the booth presidents how many Bangladeshis have come and they replied that none has reached there.
"They confessed that people were made emotional, but now they have understood the situation. There is no impact of anti-CAA campaign and the agitation has been weakened," he added.
Opposition parties and various organisations started agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill from December 10, a day after it was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to minority community people of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled religious persecution and entered India before December 31, 2014.