AASU, others to intensify protests; Assam government in high alert mode

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: AASU and 30 other organizations have jointly announced their decision to intensify protests against the implementation of CAA. The North East Students' Organisation (NESO) also announced today that they will embark on protests in a democratic way. On the other hand, the government is fully prepared to deal with any untoward incidents occurring, and all police stations have been put on high alert.

After the announcement of the CAA notification, AASU and other activists immediately started protests, burning copies of the contentious CAA document in many places across the state.

According to AASU sources, "We will continue our protests against the implementation of CAA through peaceful agitations as well as a legal battle. CAA goes against the interests of the people of Assam and poses a threat to the state's indigenous communities."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that those opposing CAA should approach the court instead of organizing street protests. Protests will block the development process in the state at this particular juncture of time, when the state has embarked on development activities in a big way, he stressed.

In view of the situation that evolved in the state after the passage of CAA in Parliament in 2019, this time the government said it is ready to tackle any emerging situation. In the past week, the security apparatus has been kept in readiness in sensitive areas to be deployed in any contingency. During the mass protests that took place in 2019, five people in the state were killed in police firings, and many sustained injuries in police action.

On the other hand, those opposing CAA fear that CAA would reduce the indigenous people to a minority by giving citizenship to a large number of Hindu 'Bangalis' from Bangladesh. They say Assam would bear the maximum brunt, as the state has witnessed large-scale migration from Bangladesh since the Partition and even after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.

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