STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The northeastern universities students’ fraternity has called for a total shutdown of all the universities and colleges in the region on January 22 when the Supreme Court will conduct hearing on the petitions filed in the apex Court challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The northeastern universities students’ fraternity hopes that during the hearing, the Supreme Court will address the “unconstitutional and contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and its ill repercussions on the indigenous masses of North Eastern states”.
The varsities include the Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Tezpur University, Assam Women’s University (AWU), Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Nagaland University, Rajiv Gandhi University, and NERIST.
Along with other organizations including the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), the students from most of the universities and colleges across the Northeast have been raising their voices against the CAA.
Under the CAA, non-Muslim minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith, are eligible for Indian citizenship.
On December 18, 2019, the apex Court had issued a notice to the Centre and sought its response by the second week of January on a batch of petitions challenging the CAA’s legality. The Supreme Court has fixed January 22 for hearing all the anti-CAA petitions.