NESO observes black day as CAA completes a year

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The North East Students' Organization (NESO) observed Thursday as the 'black day' across the region as the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the Parliament completed a year on this day.

The students' organization vowed to carry out a vigorous movement till the CAA that paves the way for granting citizenship to Hindu and other non-Muslim minorities from the neighbouring Bangladesh, is repealed.

A statement issued by the NESO on Friday evening said bulldozing the wishes of the people of NE States, the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019. The Khasi Students' Union (KSU), Garo Students' Union (GSU), All Assam Students' Union (AASU), All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU), Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), Naga Students' Federation (NSF), All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) and the Tripura Students' Federation (TSF) hoisted "black flags" at public places in their respective States on Friday.

The CAB was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah on December 9, 2019 and was passed on December 10, 2019, with 311 MPs voting in favour and 80 against the Bill. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019 with 125 votes in favour and 105 votes against it. Soon after the Bill was passed both in Houses of the Parliament, the situation in Assam became volatile with massive protests and agitation by the students' community led by the AASU.Five protestors, including a school student, were killed due to firing by the police during the movement.

In the Statement NESO chairman Samuel Jewra and secretary general SinamPrakash Singh have warned the Centre not to covert the Northeast as the grazing field for the illegal Bangladeshis.

"The problem of illegal infiltration from Bangladesh has to be resolved on the basis of the historic Assam Accord. The Centre does not believe that India exists beyond Kolkata and thus enforced the legislation like CAA in NE," NESO general secretary Sinam Prakash Singh said.

"We won't let the Northeast to be the dustbin of Bangladeshis. We're going to continue our peaceful agitation till the Act is repealed," the statement added.

"Imposing the CAA on the people of the Northeast is extreme injustice meted out to us by the Central government. Our non-violent agitation against the Act will continue. Students will study as well as join the agitation," NESO adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya said.

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