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AASU tells Centre
* Masses appealed to participate in Bajra Ninad on January 23
* Bill is clear violation of Assam Accord
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students Union (AASU) has demanded that “the Centre must immediately scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (earlier it was 2016) when there is still time.” The influential and apex students’ organization of the State also appealed to the people of the North East to protest against the desperate attempt by the Centre to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath further said, “The public of Assam and the North East have not accepted this Bill which is communal and anti-constitutional. So, the indigenous people of the entire north-eastern region have risen as one against it.”
Stating that the Citizenship Bill is “a clear violation of the Assam Accord”, Nath added, “neither Assam nor the other north-eastern States has the capacity to shoulder the burden of additional illegal Bangladeshis after 1971.”
The student leader further stated, “In a secular country like India, there cannot be any legislation based on religion. But the ruling BJP is trying to impose the Bill on the people.”
Referring to the forceful attempt of the BJP to pass the Bill in the Parliament, the AASU leader said, “Following the nod of the Lok Sabha, the Centre will try to pass the Bill during the forthcoming session of the Rajya Sabha slated from January 31. However, the indigenous people of Assam in particular and the North East in general must oppose the move of the BJP unitedly to ensure that the Centre is forced to scrap the Bill immediately. The public must come out and participate in the AASU’s Bajra Ninad (thunderbolt) programme all over the region on January 23.” The programme has already garnered the support of 30 indigenous bodies of Assam, North East Students Organisation (NESO) as well as a number of other bodies.