Mass uproar against CAA at Lakhimpur ‘Gana Hongkar’

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: President of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Dipanka Kumar Nath said that the Union Government had imposed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 in order to turn the Assamese community into minority, to destroy the Assamese culture and civilization and to change the demographic pattern of the State.

“We have protested against the Union Government’s move taken to grant citizenship to illegal migrants tagging them religiously ‘persecuted’ since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was notified. We told the government that no communal politics could be sponsored in Assam. All the tribes and communities, irrespective of their religion, castes, and creed, have been unitedly living in the land as one Assamese community. We told the government not to pollute the social environment of the State by dividing the people like the other States of the nation. But the government turned a deaf ear to our protest and forcefully imposed the Act,” stated the AASU president while taking part in a massive protest programme against the controversial Act initiated by Lakhimpur district units of AASU and 30 ethnic organizations and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) along with the support of many other organizations, including the local body of Srimanta Sankardev Sangha.

In the stir titled ‘Gana Hunkar’ in the presence of several thousand CAA protesters, the AASU president became vocal against the Union and State governments highlighting the demerits of the Act. “CAA is dangerous to the people of Assam. The State Government, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and State Finance Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma have attempted to delude the people of the State by advocating in favour of the Act. Various policies have been taken up for this. The Chief Minister and the Finance Minister are involved in a dangerous conspiracy hatched to destroy the Assamese community for the greed of power by granting citizenship to crores of aliens,” said Dipanka Kumar Nath.

In connection, the AASU president castigated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his failure to seal the open Indo-Bangladesh border. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been tagged as the most powerful Prime Minister of the world. But his government has utterly failed to seal the open 268-km Indo-Bangla border to check the infiltration of illegal migrants to Assam,” he said, declaring the AASU’s stand of continuing the anti-CAA agitation till the Act was scrapped.

Coming down heavily against the Act and its patron governments at the Centre and in the State, AJYCP president Rana Pratap Baruah said, “The Union Government has attempted to destroy the existence of Assam and Assamese people, but the Chief Minister of the State, Sarbananda Sonowal has played the role of Dhritarashtra. The anti-CAA agitation is a movement for saving the democratic ideologies and the sanctity of the Constitution and the existence of the Assamese community. This agitation will not stop and will continue with massive intensity and united efforts of intellectuals, artists, youths, student communities along with the people in every walk of life,” said the AJYCP president. In connection, he declared to continue the anti-big dam agitation and became vocal against the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project and NHPC’s move to complete the project before ensuring the security of the life and properties of the downstream people of the River Subansiri.

Taking part in the massive protest programme, AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his ‘arrogant’ statement declaring the BJP-led government’s stand of not withdrawing the CAA despite a massive protest against it.

“We want to clarify it that AASU, our associate anti-CAA organizations and the people of Assam will not retreat back from the agitation against the CAA. The Act must be scrapped,” said the AASU general secretary while addressing the gathering and replying to the statement of the Union Home Minister.

Excoriating the State Government regarding the issue, Lurinjyoti Gogoi said that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Sarbananda Sonowal did not have answers to questions regarding the CAA, such as how the Act would not be destructive to Assam and the Assamese community, how many Hindu foreigners would be granted citizenship and rehabilitation in the State through the provisions of the Act, where the refugees taking shelter in neighboring States with Inner Line Permit privilege and Sixth Schedule statuses like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya would go and where they would be rehabilitated?

He further slammed the BJP’s IT cell activists for their vulgar attempt to destroy and denounce the anti-CAA agitation. He severely criticized the government for granting a package of Rs. 600 crore for the rehabilitation of Hindu foreigners at a time when a major portion of the flood victims had been living a vagrant life or taking temporary shelter on the embankments. He alleged that the government at the Centre mocked AASU and the Assamese people as an agitated community.

Lurinjyoti Gogoi also slammed the NHPC and State and Union governments’ secret moves taken to complete the SLHP. He vowed that the controversial big dam would not be allowed to be completed unless the government fulfilled the promises made regarding the issue in the tripartite meeting held in New Delhi. In the protest meeting held under the management of Lakhimpur AASU president Pulok Jyoti Borah and general secretary Dhanmoni Dutta, AASU vice-president Chitta Ranjan Basumatari, finance secretary Krishna Das and many other dignitaries gave speeches. Popular artists Bipin Chaodang, Manas Robin and other artists of Lakhimpur presented revolutionary songs against the CAA.

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