Burns MHA order copies
Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) today organised an 11-hour hunger strike at all district headquarters in the state, demanding the expulsion of illegal Bangladeshis and the rooting out of fundamentalists from the state. AASU also burnt copies of the latest Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order regarding persecuted communities from neighbouring countries staying in India without valid documents.
The MHA, on September 1, notified the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, which states that members of minority communities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India till December 31, 2024, to escape religious persecution, will be allowed to stay in the country without a passport or other valid documents.
The AASU today also demanded the sealing of the India-Bangladesh border, issue of an order to shoot at sight infiltrators, the rectification of the NRC upgradation process, keeping Assam out of the purview of the CAA and the implementation of all the recommendations of the Justice (retd.) Biplab Kumar Sarma Commission on the Assam Accord.
AASU president Utpal Sarma and general secretary Samiran Phukon said, "The Assam Accord states that all foreigners entering Assam by March 24, 1971, must be identified, their names deleted from voter lists, and their deportation. Due to non-implemnetation of the Assam Accord for the past 40 years, Assam is now in danger. The demography of Assam has changed; the indigenous people are on the verge of losing their political rights, and a situation has arisen where the Assamese language is in danger of becoming a minority. The open border with Bangladesh has resulted in unabated infiltration, and Assam has become a safe refuge for Bangladeshis and fundamentalists. At a stage like this, instead of deporting the illegal Bangladeshis, the central government is now planning to provide citizenship to them. This is an utter injustice to the indigenous people of Assam."
"CAA has not been accepted by people in Assam and will never be accepted. If CAA is bad for NE states with inner line permits like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, as well as 98% of the Sixth Schedule areas in Meghalaya, 70% in Tripura, five districts in BTR and three hill districts in Assam, how can it be good for other districts in the state?" they questioned.
Opposing the latest order by the Home Ministry, the AASU leadership stated that the conspiracy to burden Assam with Hindu Bangladeshis will never be accepted by the people of Assam and AASU. "This order is even more dangerous than CAA," they asserted.
NESO chief adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharjya said, "The Northeast is not the dustbin for illegal Bangladeshis. This new directive will not be accepted by the indigenous people of NE. This is an injustice towards the people. Assam, as well as the entire NE, should be kept outside the purview of the MHA order."
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