Stir in NE States burns effigies of Modi, Shah, and Sonowal; demands withdrawal of CAB

By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Protests were held in the north eastern States on Monday opposing the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were burnt in Assam. The protest rallies coincided with the first day of the winter session of Parliament during which the bill is proposed to be introduced. Sit-ins were also launched in various places of Guwahati and effigies of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal were burnt by youth organisation AJYCP in different parts of the state as a mark of protest against the CAB. The protests were held by the North East Students Organisation (NESO), the region’s umbrella organisation of students unions, its constituents, farmers’ body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, youth body Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and Left-Democratic Mancha, Assam among others.

Bedlam erupted in the streets of Guwahati city on a breezy winter afternoon, as members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) spilled onto the streets to stage a noisy protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. A frenzied mass of student protesters brought out effigies of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Union Home Minister Sarbananda Sonowal — whom they hold responsible for bringing the Bill. Continuing in the same vein as the Cotton University students, who had staged a similar demonstration in the city during midnight hour, the protesters were not even deterred when police personnel charged them, with the intention to douse out the flames of rebellion (metaphorically), and Clear cries of “joi aai axom” rended the air, as the student body exhibited its distaste for what it alleges to be a ‘jati‘ destroying Bill. One of the protesters told mediapersons, “As this Bill threatens the integrity of Assam, we will not accept it at any cost. The Centre’s scheme to implement this scheme will never be accepted at any cost. Earlier, the AASU’s Chief Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya, after a meeting with the top honchos of the Union Home Ministry, stated that the protests would continue.

The AASU leader further said that the organization, which launched the Assam Agitation in 1979, would oppose the Bill at all costs. “This CAB is bad for the country, and especially for Assam, as it nullifies the Assam Accord”, Bhattacharya has asserted.AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said that Assam and Tripura have taken the largest burden of illegal Bangladeshis. “Imposition of CAB in the north east is unacceptable to its people as their sentiments have been ignored despite the public rejecting the bill,” he added. In neighbouring Meghalaya Khasi Students Union, an influential students body in the State, held a sit-in near the third secretariat here protesting against the contentious bill, which it said, will have a negative impact on the people of the entire region.