NESO burns copies of rules of Citizenship (Amendment) Act
GUWAHATI, 13 Mar: The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), the apex body of major student unions of the eight states of the region, on Wednesday burnt copies of the rules of Citizenship (Amendment) Act across the region and demanded immediate repeal of the law.
Activists of Raijor Dal, Bir Lachit Sena and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) organized a march in Sivasagar, but were stopped by the police, leading to a minor scuffle. The police detained its leaders from the protest site, officials said.
NESO chief adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharjya said the member organizations burnt copies of the law on Tuesday as well in protest of implementation of the contentious act.
“The NESO held demonstrations across the Northeast and demanded immediate repeal of the CAA. Our agitation against the law will continue in a non-violent and peaceful manner,” he added.
Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said protests will continue on “streets, court and ballots” against the CAA as the state is a sufferer of a long-standing immigration problem.
“We cannot take any more burden from foreigners. We all have accepted the Assam Accord and the deadline to give Indian citizenship to all those coming to the state is March 24, 1971. Anyone coming after that will have to be deported,” he added.
Borah claimed that the BJP had promised to deport all illegal immigrants from the state before the Assembly elections in 2016, but has now made a U-turn for vote bank politics.
Anti-CAA protests by opposition parties, such as the Congress, and various organizations have been taking place in the state for the last three days.
Students of various colleges and universities also staged demonstrations against the central law in front of their respective campuses.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) also held a ‘satyagraha’ in all the district headquarters during the day, a leader of the students’ organization said.
The students’ organization had taken out a torchlight procession in several parts of the state on Tuesday evening.
An AASU delegation had gone to New Delhi on Tuesday to pursue the petition against the Act in the Supreme Court, while leader of the opposition in the Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia filed an interlocutory application
in the apex court, seeking a stay on the implementation of the Act.
Several student and non-political indigenous organizations along with opposition political parties in Assam have been opposing the CAA, claiming that it violates the provision of the 1985 Assam Accord.
The accord called for “detection and deportation” of all people who entered the state from Bangladesh post March 24, 1971.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.
The Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, the Left parties and others have announced that they will continue with their protests in a peaceful and democratic manner.
Trinamool Congress’ state president Ripun Bora said party workers will burn copies of the Act and rules in all the district headquarters of the state on Thursday.
A 12-hour ‘Sarbatamak Hartal,’ called by the 16-party United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA) on Tuesday, however, did not evoke much response.
The Assam police had issued notices to opposition parties, asking them to withdraw the hartal over the implementation of the CAA, and warned that “legal action” would be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened across the state with additional deployment of police personnel including, commandos in sensitive areas, while all police stations are on an alert, a senior officer said.
Patrolling has been intensified and check-posts have been set up on the major thoroughfares in almost all cities and towns of the state, where widespread anti-CAA protests were held in 2019. (PTI)
