AASU, 30 other Organizations, NESO Call Assam Bandh on January 8

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The AASU (All Assam Students’ Union), which is averse to the idea of calling bandh, and 30 other ethnic organizations of the State had to call Assam bandh on January 8 as the situation on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 demands so. In sync with the AASU, the NESO (North East Students’ Organization) has also called Northeast bandh on the same day for the same cause.

The AASU and 30 other ethnic organizations of the State had a joint meeting in Guwahati on Saturday.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, AASU adviser in chief Samujjal Bhattacharjya said: “The proud announcement made by the Prime Minister on Friday proves that they’re protectors of Bangladeshis. They pay heed to Bangladeshis. Theirs is a government for Bangladeshis. There has been agitation against the Bill, yet the Centre is ignoring it. They’re out to smash democracy. The AASU has not been calling bandh for ten years. We hate the bandh culture. Even though we’re averse to bandh, we’ve called Assam bandh on January 8 as the Centre is out to put the last nail in the coffin through the passage of the controversial Bill. The Centre and the State government have been torturing the people of Assam mentally.”

Bhattacharjya further said: “Let the AASU-leader-turned politicians keep their words which they said as AASU leaders or else the posterity won’t forgive them.”

At the same press meet Samujjal Bhattacharjya, who is also the adviser of the NESO, made the announcement that the NESO has also called Northeast bandh on January 8 against the move to pass the Citizenship Bill.

Spelling out the decisions taken at the meeting before the media, AASU president Dipanko Kumar Nath said: “The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is the final blow to the future of the Assamese. This is condemnable. The State Government will have to face the consequences for this. We won’t let the unilateral announcement made by the Prime Minister to be translated into a reality. The move to form a high-level committee for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord is a ploy to deceive the people of Assam by ignoring Clause 5 of the Accord.”

Spelling out the schedule of agitation taken up by the joint meeting earlier in the day, the AASU president said: “We’re going to observe black day on January 7 in all areas in Assam. We’re going to burn copies of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on that day. We’ve called 11-hour Assam bandh on January 8. On January 23, we’re going to stage a programme – khilonjiar bajra ninad (thunderous volt by the indigenous people of Assam) – in Guwahati. These will be followed by series public meetings in all areas in the State against the Citizenship Bill.”

Speaking at the press meet, AATS (All Assam Tribal Sangha) general secretary Aditya Khakhlari said: “The Centre has been out to spell disaster for the ethnic communities of Assam, and in the process it is turning the ‘Jatiya Nayak’ to ‘Sikhondi’(an eunuch character in the epic Mahabharata). Without heeding to the protest against the Citizenship Bill, the Centre is bent on playing vote bank politics. There’s no difference between the Congress and the BJP. Each of them is betrayer. Power at Dispur is at the hands of many leaders of the Assam Agitation. Yet they aren’t able to make the Centre understand the disastrous effects of the Bill in Assam.”

Also Read: All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union calls for 12-hr Assam bandh on Jan 8