Rajiv Gandhi University, NERIST, Himalayan University Students Pledge Support to Anti-CAB Stir

RONO HILLS: Pledging support to the anti-CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill), student bodies of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) and Himalayan University (HU) burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday, stated a press release.

The agitating students wore black, raised black flags, burnt effigies and clamored anti-Modi, anti-BJP slogans in protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

PM Modi was on his pre-election visit to the Northeastern region here on Saturday to lay the foundation of the Hollongi Greenfield Airport and several other developmental projects.

Addressing the protesting students in RGU and NERIST, AAPSU general secretary Tobom Dai said, the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast should not be treated as a guinea pig for the Central leaders’ experimentation.

“For the sake of vote bank politics we should not be made the sacrificial goats, the BJP leaders at the Center must remember that there is an India beyond Kolkata also,” Dai said.

He strongly demanded immediate recall and scrapping of the contentious CAB, 2016 and warned the Central government that bulldozing the Bill will ferment more trouble in north-eastern region and that AAPSU, NESO won’t remain silent if the Bill is passed.

The AAPSU leader termed the Bill as “Draconian”, and warned the people to remain alert of its consequences.

“Despite the entire NE uniting against the Bill, the Central government has no concern for the indigenous people’s voice and amidst that, PM Modi in his speech on Saturday didn’t even care to mention about the Bill,” Dai added.

NESO coordinator Pritam Waii Sonam warned, “February 12 and 13 will be crucial for us as the Centre will try to pass the Bill in Rajya Sabha. The unrest will grow even larger if the Bill is passed in the upper House of the Parliament on either of those days.”

Reminding the State government about the AAPSU martyrs who laid down their lives for this cause, Sonam asked whether the government is ready to compensate for their lives. “We do not want to be minority in our own land,” he said.

RGUSU president Goda Karu said, “We want to send across a very strong message to PM Modi that this country is not based on any religion. It’s a nation for Indians. And it is the responsibility of the Government to address our demand and prioritize us more than the illegal refugees and foreigners,” SUN GS Kyagung Dafri said.

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