With the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill listed for the forthcoming session of the Parliament, protests against the proposed legislation has once again resumed in Assam and other parts of the Northeastern region.
The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), which has been among the regional, nationalist organizations opposing the CAB, on November 15 staged protests in different parts of the state against the bill.
In Guwahati, AJYCP members staged a demonstration near the deputy commissioner’s office, raising slogans against the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state.
The North East Students Organisation (NESO), a platform of influential students’ bodies of the entire Northeast, will stage protests across the region against CAB on November 18. NESO leader Samujjal Bhattacharyya said the organization will stage demonstrations in front of Raj Bhavans (Governor’s house) in the capitals of all seven states of the Northeast.
He alleged that if CAB is passed, it will reduce the indigenous people of NE to minorities in their own states, and said the NESO will build up opposition to the CAB.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from select neighbouring countries, has seen stiff opposition across NE.
The government had got the controversial bill passed in the Lok Sabha in the last sitting of the Parliament of the last government in January this year, but was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
Differences over CAB had witnessed Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) walking out of the BJP-led coalition government in Assam in January, but they had reconciled ahead of the General Elections following an assurance by the BJP that all concerns will be addressed before CAB becomes a law.
