The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on December 9th, 2019 vehemently slammed the BJP-led central government for imposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on the people of the Northeast and said it will appeal against it in the Supreme Court.
The AASU said it would not accept the Bill “under any circumstances” as it violates the historic 1985 Assam Accord that resulted from a six-year-long anti-illegal foreigner movement in Assam.
Speaking to Time8, AASU president Dipankar Kumar Nath said, “We have asked our legal team to file a petition. We will not accept the Bill. In this legal battle, we win the way Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal won the IMDT case.”
The state is witnessing massive protests against the Bill. Strikes were called, effigies were burnt, multiple rallies are being organised to oppose the Bill.
On December 9th, 2019, the Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah amid strong protest and sloganeering by the opposition leaders.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to the people belonging to the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis who have become the victims of religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and entered India on or before December 31st, 2014.
The agitators said that the Bill nullifies the Assam Accord which has fixed March 24th, 1971 as the cut-off to identify illegal foreigners.
Photo: Time8
