By Bhupen Goswami,
Guwahati: The 11-hour shutdown called jointly by the student organizations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill began at five o’clock on Tuesday morning. The North Eastern Students’ Organization (NESO) has called for a bandh against this bill till 4 pm. Many other organizations and political parties have also lent their support to it. Security has been increased in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura in view of this bandh call. The state has been kept out of the bandh due to the ongoing Hornbill Festival in Nagaland. Native residents of the northeastern states fear that their identity and livelihooThe Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) provides for making people from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who came to India due to religious persecution from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.
d may be endangered After discussing the bill in the Lok Sabha, it got 311 votes in favor and 80 votes in protest on Monday, after which it got the approval of the lower house. Various organizations of the area are continuously protesting against this bill. Organizations like Congress, AIUDF, All Assam Students Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union, Khasi Students Union and Naga Students Federation are with NESO to support the bandh. Guwahati University and Dibrugarh University have postponed all their exams to be held tomorrow. The bill will not apply in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where there is an ILP regime, as well as the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.