Normal life was paralysed in Arunachal Pradesh on December 10 following the 11-hour Northeast bandh called by the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), an umbrella body of students’ organisations of the region, against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.
In the state capital Itanagar, shops, markets, business establishments kept their shutters down while all types of vehicles were off the road during the bandh. Educational and financial institutions also remained closed. Attendance in government offices was thin.
“The bandh passed off peacefully. No untoward incident was reported except breaking of side window of a vehicle when reportedly a drunken man tried to forcefully drive the vehicle early morning, stopping of a few two-wheelers and burning of old tyres on road sides at a few places,” said SP Capital Tumme Amo.
Earlier in the day, All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) general secretary Tobom Dai said, “Our stand is No to CAB. This fight is under the banner of NESO. From the very beginning, we have been demanding that the CAB issue should be permanently scrapped. If it can’t be scrapped, entire Northeast should be exempted from purview of CAB.”
“This is a divisive politics by the central government. They are exempting Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Assam, which is the epicentre of NE, is the worst affected. We are again appealing to the central government and to all the chief ministers and all the leaders of NE to unitedly appeal to exempt NE from CAB,” he told reporters in Itanagar.
The bandh was supported by AAPSU, the apex students’ union body in Arunachal Pradesh, a constituent of NESO.
NESO coordinator Pritam Waii Sonam said, “Every indigenous people of the Northeast states and Arunachal Pradesh are cooperating us and the bandh is successful.”
“NESO will fight together (against CAB),’’ he told reporters in Itanagar on Tuesday morning.
To avoid any untoward happening, Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) postponed the undergraduate and postgraduate semester examinations scheduled for Tuesday.
The state’s Directorate of School Education also pushed back the pre-Board examination for Class X and XII scheduled on Tuesday.
