The Prime Minister's Office had earlier declined an invitation to visit Khelo India event in Guwahati
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam on February 7, weeks after his office declined an invitation to attend the Khelo India games in the north-east state amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He will address a mega rally in the Bodo-dominated Kokrajhar town.
"PM would be visiting Kokrajhar where there would be dance and festivities to celebrate the signing of the Bodo accord," a Home Ministry official told NDTV.
PM Modi would be in the city for approximately two hours. "He would land in Guwahati and from there would reach Kokrajhar via a chopper. And while coming back, he would go to the Hasimara airport from where he would travel back to Delhi," the officer added.
The signing of the Bodo peace pact with several outfits and student bodies is being celebrated by the Assam government. The state authorities had extended the invite to Prime Minister's Office a few days back. This was the third invite to the PMO; the previous two had been turned down.
Assam has been in the grip of protests against the government's new citizenship law, which for the first time makes religion a criterion for getting Indian citizenship. Student bodies like the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and North East Students' Union (NESO) had warned that PM Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah will face protests anywhere in the northeast.
According to reports, Amit Shah was also invited to the Khelo India event in Guwahati, but he didn't attend.
The country has been witnessing protests since December last year, when the government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act that makes it easier for non-Muslims migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to become Indian citizens. Critics say that the law is against the secular principles of the country and is likely to pose a threat to the country's Muslim community when implemented in coordination with the National Register of Citizens.