Guwahati, Sept. 22: Intellectuals and leaders of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) here today warned of another anti-foreigners movement in Assam if the Centre did not withdraw its recent notification allowing minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay in India without valid documents.

Addressing a rally organised by the KMSS and its political wing, Gana Mukti Sangram Asom, social scientist Hiren Gohain said the Centre's notification and subsequent move to offer citizenship to Hindu migrants, mostly from Bangladesh, was a threat to the identity of the Assamese, its language and culture. "This is another ploy by the BJP government at the Centre to play politics on religious lines, divide people and rule. Our state is already overburdened by Bangladeshi migrants and Assamese people can't take more burden. We have fought against the foreigners 17 times since the Mughal era and people of Assam will fight again against this move," Gohain, who has been vocal against the Centre's "discrimination" to Assam and the Northeast, said.

The Assam Accord signed between the Centre, the Assam government and the agitating All Assam Students' Union (AASU), following the six-year-long Assam Agitation (1979-1985), had pledged to solve the foreigner problem. A tripartite meeting in 2005 had decided to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951, by including the names of all who lived in the state till March 24, 1971. The notification issued on September 7 has, however, led local organisations, including AASU, to believe that the Centre's move was aimed at jeopardising the ongoing update of the NRC.

Former student leader Adip Kumar Phukan said over 67 lakh Bangladeshi Hindus entered Assam since 1971 and if they were given citizenship, it would threaten the identity of Assamese language and culture.

Phukan, who had earlier joined the BJP, however, resigned from the party's state unit following Narendra Modi government's decision to ratify the land swap deal with Bangladesh .

KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi warned of a vigorous movement if the notification was not withdrawn immediately. Over 5,000 KMSS members, who assembled at Sonaram High School playground here at Bharalumukh, marched to the Raj Bhavan, about 5km away, and submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister through governor P.B. Acharya with a demand for the immediate withdrawal of the notification.

The AASU today took out a procession in Dibrugarh in protest against the Centre's move.