Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s hometown Dibrugarh reverberated with the roar of thousands of protesters who gathered at the Government Boys’ HS School playground here on Saturday in response to AASU’s Janatar Agnikantha (people’s voice of fire) programme against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

People holding placards and banners participated in the rally. All shops, banks, business establishments and private offices remained closed in the town throughout the day while attendance was thin in government offices.

Addressing the huge gathering, AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to explain the Centre’s decision to exempt the areas covered under the inner-line permit (ILP) and Sixth Schedule in the Northeast from the purview of the contentious Act.

“I would like to ask Modi and Shah to explain that if the CAA is bad for areas covered under the ILP and Sixth Schedule, how is it good for the rest of the northeastern states? In Assam, seven of the 33 districts come under the purview of the Sixth Schedule. That means the CAA will be implemented in 26 districts while seven districts will be exempted. If the CAA is bad for the Sixth Scheduled districts, how can it be good for the other districts? The Centre should explain this. The BJP is following a divide-and-rule policy. If the Centre is so keen on implementing the CAA, let them settle all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Modi’s home state Gujarat. The people of Assam will never accept the CAA,” Bhattacharjya said. “Our language, culture and identity are at stake. The government cannot impose the CAA in Assam by violating the Assam Accord. We will not let this happen because the Act is anti-people and undemocratic. Protests are on across India but the protests in Assam and other states of the Northeast are different,” he added.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “Five persons have died in the protests but the government is not concerned. Bullets cannot silence the people. Assam is not a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis.”

He added, “The CAA is against the spirit of the Assam Accord of 1985. It is against the self-respect of the Assamese people and we will fight it till our last breath. Assam will not accept any foreigner who entered the state after 1971, Hindu or Muslim. It is ironic that the BJP came to power in Assam with the promise of securing jati, mati, bheti (Community, land and home) of the indigenous people, but now they are trying to sell their motherland for the sake of vote bank politics. The betrayal by Modi, Shah and Sonowal will not be forgotten. The people of Assam will give them a befitting reply in time.”

The AASU leader also accused Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of trying to mislead and confuse the people of the state on the CAA.

AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad general secretary Udayan Kumar Gogoi also addressed the rally.