AASU, FACAB team up to foil Centre's move

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 30: Led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the 28 ethnic organizations of the State have teamed up with the Forum Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (FACAB) to foil the Centre’s attempt to ‘impose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on the people of Assam, forcibly’.

The leaders of the AASU and other ethnic organizations of the State have had a meeting with the leaders of the FACAB on Monday and had a detailed discussion on the Bill. The meeting has decided to oppose the Bill in unison, if need be, though agitation even as the door for talks with the government on the crucial issue is always open. The meeting has taken the decision to stage agitation to protest the Centre’s move on the Bill tooth and nail. However, it has not decided as yet if the agitation will be staged at individual organizational level or in unison. The meeting has spelt it out in clear terms that foreigners problem in the State has to be solved in accordance with the Assam Accord and under no circumstances Assam is going to accept the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that poses a direct threat to the language, literature and culture of Assam.

Speaking at the meeting, AASU adviser-in-chief Samujjal Bhattacharya said: “We’ve made it clear time and again that there’s no room for Bangladeshis in Assam. We’ve also made it crystal clear that Bangladeshis can’t be distinguished as Hindus and Muslims based on their faiths. All Bangladeshis who entered Assam after 1971 must leave the State, regardless of their religions.”      

FACAB president Dr. Hiren Gohain has said that the Centre is bent on imposing the Bill on Assam, forcibly. He has said that the Bill, if gets passage, is going to spell doom for Assam, changing the demography of indigenous people in the State. 

All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS) leader Aditya Khakhlari, All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) president Promod Boro and others were also present at the meeting.