Section 144 imposed in  Dibrugarh, adjacent areas

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Dibrugarh: With section 144 been imposed in the Dibrugarh district and the adjoining areas for an indefinite period from Thursday in the wake of the strong protests against CAB, situation remains to be extremely volatile.

Trucks of CRPF personnel doing rounds (flag march) of the town since morning became a common sight, with certain cases of clash between them and the general public coming out from different areas of the region. As per sources, there were also several instances of blank firing (rubber bullets) and use of tear gas in areas like Chowkidinghee and Chaulkhowa of the Dibrugarh town.

The normal life has been badly hit with domestic food supplies shrinking owing to a four day back-to-back strike, besides educational institutions, commercial establishments and financial institutions keeping their operations shut.

Transportation, including railways and roadways, has also gone for a beating with trains getting cancelled and buses being stopped by agitators midway. Internet has also been shut down in several districts of the state, including Dibrugarh. Moreover, the protests also turned violent in few places, with the protesters targeting residence of the Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, located near Mancotta, and also the residences of local representatives, be it MP of Dibrugarh, Rameshwar Teli, or MLA of Dibrugarh, Prashanta Phukan. Talking to this reporter, President of the Dibrugarh unit of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) - a student body that has been at the vanguard of the anti-CAB movement - , Rupjyoti Borthakur said, "AASU has been asking the people to protest peacefully using constitutional means. Resorting to violence will only make it easier for the government to suppress the movement.

Besides, our fight to save our Assamese language and culture cannot go on at the expense of the convenience of the general public, who are facing a lot of hardships due to the recent curfew being imposed." Gondheswar Saikia - recipient of Presidents' Award for the role of a teacher as well as a literary pensioner - remarked, "CAB is a surgical strike on Assam. As such, I'm absolutely against CAB. The government has passed it both the houses by trampling upon the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Assam.

If it is implemented, it'll have dangerous consequences for the future generations. This act also goes against the constitution, against the secular fabric of our country. As such, I appeal the people to make use of the Judicial Review power of the Supreme Court of India, and have the law declared null and void." In a bid to crush the movement, the security personnel took a very tough stand on Thursday. Reports of the family of an AASU member named Dibyajyoti Hazarika being manhandled are also doing rounds.

The past couple of days have witnessed the anti-CAB movement intensifying in Assam, especially Dibrugarh. Thousands of protesters, from different parts of the region, had come out in stiff opposition to CAB chanting ant-CAB and anti-BJP slogans. Prayag Kashyap Baruah, a musician, said, "Is India still a democracy? Has the government gone blind, or it has turned a blind eye to our pleas and submissions? Assam doesn't want illegal migrants any further. We're already mired in multiple problems."

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