GUWAHATI, Dec 14: Protests against the amended Citizenship Act (CA) continued on Saturday in West Bengal and in the Northeast, which saw several incidents of arsoning and the killing of a person.
Nagaland observed a six-hour shutdown against the legislation.
In West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress government has been opposing the CA, arson by protestors was reported from various areas.
Buses, a railway station, and a toll plaza in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad were set on fire by protestors, officials said.
In Assam, indefinite curfew was relaxed for several hours in Dibrugarh and Guwahati, which has emerged as the epicentre of protests against the contentious piece of legislation.
Curfew was also relaxed in Meghalaya capital Shillong.
In Assam the toll in the large-scale protests against the act rose to three as suspected miscreants set ablaze an oil tanker at Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district and killed its driver during curfew on late Friday night.
Two others had been killed during the violent protests against the CA in Guwahati earlier this week. Schools and offices in Guwahati remained shut, official sources said.
Suspension of internet services across Assam was extended for 48 hours till 16 December to prevent misuse of social media in disturbing peace and to maintain law and order in the state, Additional Chief Secretary (Home & Political Department), Sanjay Krishna, said.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which is spearheading the agitation, kept up its protest meetings along with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and 30 other indigenous organisations in the Brahmaputra valley.
The AJYCP is demanding the implementation of inner line permit (ILP) regime in the state.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said peaceful protests will continue every day till 5 pm as the student body follows Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of nonviolence.
Curfew was also relaxed in Shillong during the day as the law and order situation improved.
The regulation had been imposed in parts of the city amid violent protests against the CA, officials said.
The Meghalaya government has decided to convene a special one-day session of the assembly to bring in a resolution to implement the ILP regime in the state.
In Nagaland, schools and colleges were closed, markets were shut and vehicles plied in fewer numbers during the six-hour shutdown since 6 am by Naga Students’ Federation against the CA, officials said.
In West Bengal, where violent protests against the citizenship legislation began on Friday, a portion of the Sankrail railway station complex in Howrah district was set on fire on Saturday by a mob which also thrashed security personnel guarding it, officials said.
A number of private and public buses were torched by angry protestors on the arterial Kona expressway that connects NH 2 (Delhi Road) to NH 6 (Mumbai Road) near the city and in the districts.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned of strict action against perpetrators of violence, and appealed to the people to protest democratically and maintain peace.
“Do not take up law in your hand. Do not cause damage to government properties. Strict action would be taken against those who are found guilty in creating disturbances,” a CMO statement quoting her said.
She also iterated that the amended CA and the proposed country-wide NRC will not take effect in the state.
In Patna, Lalu Prasad’s RJD has given a call for a Bihar bandh on 21 December in protest against the act, alleging that it has blown the constitution to “smithereens.”
The legislation has put the Northeast on the boil as people fear that it may exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration, while Muslims across the country apprehend that the move could be a precursor to the countrywide implementation of the National Register of Citizens. (PTI)
