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A Correspondent
TANGLA: The Tangla chapter of All Assam Students’ Union and 29 other ally ethnic organizations along with thousands of students and citizens hit the street and took out a massive mass protest rally throughout Tangla town in Udalguri district on Thursday against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities of the neighbouring nations.
The AASU protesters took out a peaceful procession, raising slogans against the Bill and the government. It started and culminated at Tangla High Secondary playground. Addressing the gathering, AASU assistant general secretary Jayanta Kumar Bhattacharjya said, “Assam is not the dumping ground of illegal immigrants. The Bill violates the spirit of the historic Assam Accord of 1985 which clearly lays down that anyone who entered Assam after March 24, 1971 will be treated as foreigner.”
Bhattacharjya further said, “Will the supreme sacrifice of the 855 martyrs of the Assam Movement go in vain? We will never accept the Bill which violates the clauses of the Assam Accord and the Assam Accord is the heart and soul of the Assamese.”
He said, “We will never take the burden of illegal Bangladeshi Hindus. We warn the Centre not to impose this fundamentally unconstitutional Bill or else it should be ready to face the music.” He added, “We dare the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, to come out in solidarity with the people of the State in this hour of crisis and save the Assamese language, culture and community.”
“Assam is a land of Sankar-Azan where there is a syncretic relationship between Hindus and Muslims. If communal forces try to create tension, they will face the wrath of the people. The Assamese must not be taken for granted as we have a rich legacy of Ahoms who repelled the mighty Mughals from Assam and if the situation demands we are ready to lay down our lives for the sake of our motherland,” said Bhattacharjya.
President of Udalguri chapter, Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA), Deep Tanti said, “We vehemently oppose the Bill which is detrimental to the cause of the Assamese society and the Bill seeks to create division in the lines of religion which is never acceptable.”
Vice-president of the Udalguri chapter of Asom Jatiyabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Niloy Chaliya said, “The Bill undermines the fundamental tenets of the Constitution and violates the historic Assam Accord. It is a sheer conspiracy by the communal forces to create division and unrest among the people.” A senior citizen, Binoy Kumar Medhi, while participating in the protest said, “We never want a Bill which will diminish the native Assamese into a second class citizen.” He further said, “The government should have respected the sentiments of the people and how can there be a Bill which is detrimental to secularism, one of the core principles of the Constitution? The AGP, which should have been a front runner in the protest against the Bill, is now acting at the instance of the BJP for the sake of remaining in power.”