Guwahati: Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Wednesday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 would violate the secular fabric of the Constitution as it seeks to offer citizenship to non-Muslim migrants only.

Mahanta said he had requested President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he had met last week, to withdraw the bill as it would violate the Assam Accord of 1985.

The Accord, signed between the Centre and leaders of the Assam Agitation, a movement against illegal immigrants in Assam, says all foreigners who came to the state after the midnight of March 24, 1971 should be detected and deported. The agitation was led by the All Assam Students' Union and Mahanta, who led AASU, was one of the signatories of the Accord.

"Our stand is clear from the beginning. The AGP, and personally I, cannot accept any move that violates the Assam Accord. At least 855 indigenous people had sacrificed their lives and many became disabled during the agitation against foreigners. We cannot allow violation of the Accord by offering citizenship to people on the basis of religion. We hope the BJP, being our coalition partner here, will not go ahead with the bill as we are opposed to it," he said.

The draft bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians - from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to the country till December 31, 2014.

There have been protests against the bill in Assam, saying that it would result in an identity crisis for the indigenous people. The National Register of Citizens is being updated in Assam with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date.

"I also requested the President and the Prime Minister to ensure implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord that promises to grant constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people," Mahanta said.