Anti-Bill protestors brave police at Janata Bhawan

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: A swelled-up crowd drawn from 70 different organizations, including the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chattra Parishad (AJYCP), threw security personnel into a tizzy in front of Janata Bhawan on Wednesday when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was delivering his speech on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha.

The protestors, in hundreds, gathered in front of Janata Bhawan, making a desperate attempt to enter the premises. The security personnel, however, stonewalled them with barricades only to make them lie down on the road, leading to a traffic snarl. The security personnel, who were in riot gear, soon erected a number of bamboo barricades to control the mob. Just as it was beginning to go out of control, the police had to arrest a large number of protestors, who were soon frisked away. The remaining ones then made a fresh attempt to break the barricades, resulting in a fierce scuffle between them and the security men. When the situation started to escalate beyond control, the security personnel resorted to wield their lathis and drove the protestors away, towards the Ganeshguri side.

The protestors kept running helter-skelter, breaking and smashing everything – road dividers, traffic cones, barricades etc – that came their way, shouting slogans that their agitation would continue “till the anti-people government doesn’t cancel the anti-Assam Bill’”.

The worst affected during the protest was the movement of vehicular traffic on GS Road, teeming with honking vehicles.

During the protest, before his arrest, AJYCP general secretary Palash Changmai said, “Once we’d crowned this Chief Minister as jaatiya naayak (national hero). Now he’s acting as a khalnaayak (a villain). He has no right to continue in power. He should step down.”

“We don’t need any such Janata Bhawan and Assembly Secretariat that turns a deaf ear to people’s cry,” another protestor said.

The protestors took a decision to show black flag to each and every BJP leaders in the State.

Following the incident, the security of all the gates leading to Janata Bhawan and the Assembly Secretariat was tightened.

Also read: Assam Congress Members & Supporters to ‘Gherao’ Raj Bhawan over Rafale Deal in Guwahati