GUWAHATI: After a brief lull, a fresh protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was staged in Guwahati on Thursday.
Twenty eight organizations, led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), hit the streets asking the Central government to stay away from passing the bill which seeks to legitimize the stay of the non-Muslim immigrants of Bangladesh besides Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered the country till December 31, 2014.
The protestors, who took out a march, had plans to stage the protest in front of Janata Bhawan, Assam’s seat of power, but they were stopped midway by the security personnel.
Advisor to AASU, Samujjal Bhattacharya, said, “The people of Assam will thwart the BJP-led Central government’s move to impose the illegal immigrants on Assam and the Assamese people. We urge the Chief Minister and all lawmakers in Assam to make their stand clear –whether they support the bill or oppose it”.
He slammed the Sarbananda Sonowal government for endorsing the bill. “Why can’t the Assam government take a decision against the bill when the same was done by the Meghalaya government?” asked Bhattacharya.
The protest was staged just days after 60 other organisations from across the state had met and resolved to intensify their agitation against the bill. They had discussed at length on how they could take the protests forward across the country and mobilize public support against the bill.