New Delhi, January 27: The row over the Citizenship Amendment Bill led to a battle on Twitter between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his former colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma. The latter, who is a BJP Minister in Assam, accused his former leader of fueling unrest in the Northeast by spreading misinformation and supporting "fake protesters".

The exchange of political barbs comes in the backdrop of an escalated protest across the Northeast, after the Centre rushed the Citizenship Amendment Bill through the Lok Sabha. The proposed law intends to provide citizenship to refugees from the neighbouring countries if they belong to non-Muslim religious groups. Citizenship Bill: Six Student Bodies in Manipur to Boycott Republic Day 2019 Celebrations.

The Gandhi scion had voiced support in favour of the dissenting groups in the Northeast -- who have accused the BJP of betraying their poll promise by acting only against the Muslim infiltrators.

"I am disturbed by the growing violence & unrest in the N East where religion & ethnicity are being used as weapons by the BJP to polarise the region for political gain. This type of politics, that pitches brother against brother & fans hatred, is evil & must be stopped (sic)," he said.

Hitting back at the Congress chief, Sarma said he is not aware of the ground realities. The Minister claimed that the government has succeeded in convincing most dissenting groups -- whereas, those who are still agitating are either misinformed or have vested interests.

BJP general secretary in-charge of Northeast, Ram Madhav, has also accused the Opposition of spreading a propaganda against the government. He has claimed that the Bill will not pose a threat to the indigenous population and culture as only those refugees will be granted citizenship who have entered India before December 31, 2014.

Despite the BJP's claim that it has convinced protesting bodies to withdraw their agitation, it remains noteworthy that their Assam ally - the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) - has withdrawn support from the state government due to the latter's unrelenting stand on the citizenship law.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 27, 2019 02:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).