A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it amply clear that his government would implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, anti-CAA organisations also sent a clear message to the Centre that they would not budge from their stand to get the law scrapped.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), artistes’ fraternity and 30 organisations representing various communities, on Saturday organised anti-CAA rallies at Pathsala in lower Assam’s Barpeta district, Kakopathar in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district and other places.
People from different walks of life joined the protest.
“Our protest will continue till CAA is scrapped. We will not accept anything less than scrapping of the Act,” said AASU chief adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharjya in Pathsala.
Modi, who was in Kokrajhar on Friday to attend a rally to celebrate the signing of the new Bodo Accord, brushed aside the “rumour” that outsiders would be able to enter and settle in Assam because of CAA, demonstrating the Centre’s determination to implement the law which has left the state restive since December. He also promised implement of Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord which provides constitutional safeguards to the Assamese people.
Bhattacharjya’s observation, however, made it clear that Modi’s assurance had failed to cut any ice. “Unlike last year, the Centre played a trick this time by forming a high-powered committee on implementation of Clause 6 and then passing the citizenship bill in Parliament. But we want to remind them that Clause 5, which sets March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal migrants, comes before Clause 6,” he said.
“The BJP has told the people that there will be no harm from CAA. How can it be possible if you give citizenship to illegal migrants who entered the state between 1971 and 2014? We will not accept the BJP’s formula to save Assam by accepting Hindu Bangladeshis,” he added.
Bhattacharjya reiterated that the AASU does not differentiate between foreigners based on religion. “Our stand is clear. A foreigner is a foreigner, irrespective of religion,” he said.
At Kakopathar, once the hotbed of Ulfa activities, AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi and AJYCP general secretary Palash Changmai said Modi only repeated what he, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have been saying all along that no new immigrant will enter Assam because of CAA, but his assurance “found no takers”. All Moran Students’ Union secretary Nabo Moran also spoke at the rally. More than 15,000, including women and students, attended the rally amid tight security.
The rally lasted till evening, culminating with anti-CAA protest songs sung by Manas Robin.
Protests against CAA were also organised in Tinsukia and Sonitpur on Friday, when Modi visited the BTAD which is exempted from the purview of the Act. Anti-CAA organisations, however, did not oppose Modi’s visit as a goodwill gesture towards the Bodo community which was celebrating the new accord.
Youth Congress members on Saturday organised a jail bharo (fill jails) programme in Guwahati to protest against CAA and demanded unconditional and immediate release of its Assam unit president Kamrul Islam Choudhury.
Choudhury was arrested last month for his alleged involvement in arson during anti-CAA protests in the city in December last year. The Youth Congress members criticised the “anti-people” policies of the BJP government.
Assam Youth Congress general secretary Suman Kalyan Bora said they organised the procession and courted arrest. “However, they were released later,” he said.
Bora said they sent a message to the government that the protest would continue till CAA was scrapped and Choudhury was released.
Senior leaders like PCC president Ripun Bora and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi also attended the protest.
Additional reporting by Manoj Kumar Ojha in Doomdooma