Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and State Finance Minister Himant Biswa Sarma met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi today and discussed the strategy to prepare a roadmap to deal with the Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act.After the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, protests shook Assam, as thousands upon thousands poured out onto the streets, demanding the Government to roll back the CAA, which fast tracks Indian citizenship for minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists – who have faced religious persecution in three neighbouring muslim-majority countries –Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The new law, however, excludes Muslims.

Some of the protests took a violent turn, and as many as five protesters were killed during firing by police in the protests that followed. In the aftermath of the protests, a summit-level meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe was postponed.Assam is witnessing continuous peaceful protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of 2019. On Thursday, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) conducted peaceful protests against the ‘CAA’ under the appellation ‘Rana Singa’ (war bugle), across the length and breadth of Assam.Meanwhile, many civil society leaders and eminent artistes have announced their plans to float a political outfit to take on the saffron might of the BJP in the impending Assembly elections, to be held in 2021.Apart from Assam, other northeastern states too are uncomfortable with CAA. They say the new law will overwhelm the local culture, economy and would go against the interest of the indigenous people.

Earlier, a summit-level meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was postponed because of protests .Ever since the Modi government came to power at the Center, the BJP has been waving its glory in many states one after the other. The BJP grew in stature over the years. One state after another saffron started appearing on the map of India. Comparing this picture till May 2018 before this assembly election, it is clear how important states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have slipped from the BJP in one stroke.