The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) which launched its 3-day movement against the Citizenship Amendment Bill on December 4th, 2019 has a series of agitations lined up to protest against the bill which is likely to be introduced in the Parliament on Monday.
The students’ body has mentioned that the government should not mislead Assam by bargaining the bill with the constitutional safeguards of the people and that the Centre is only focused on the vote bank politics.
The agitation programmes included bandh, hunger strike, torch rallies across the region.
Saying that they cannot accept the bill at any cost as it nullifies the 1985 Assam Accord that resulted from a six-year-long agitation against illegal immigrants in Assam, the AASU has challenged the Centre to come for an open debate.
The AASU extended its full support to the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO)’s 11-hour shutdown in the region on December 10th, 2019. The shutdown has been called from 5 am to 4 pm. The bandh coincides with AASU’s Swahid Diwas(Martyr’s Day).
They will also observe a mass hunger strike in Guwahati on December 13th, 2019. And from December 14th, 2019 onwards, they will organize meetings and rallies in all rural and sub-urban areas to aware the general mass about the Bill.
The Bill seeks to give citizenship to all non-Muslim immigrants facing persecution in the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Bill was passed by the Union Cabinet on December 4th, 2019 as protests continue in the Northeast.
Photo: Smita Rani Deka
