Hundreds of protesters took to streets blocking roads, burning tyres and shouting slogans in Assam as life across most parts of the northeast was hit on Tuesday, a day after the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha.
The North East Students Organisation (NESO) has called an 11-hour general strike to protest the bill, which grants citizenship to religious minorities from the three Muslim-majority countries in India’s neighbourhood.
It was passed after a raucous nine-hour debate during which opposition parties alleged the draft legislation violated the Constitution by linking faith to citizenship.
The bill seeks to amend the 1955 Citizenship Act by granting citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Jains who entered India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
It now moves to the Rajya Sabha, where the government doesn’t command a majority but has been successful in piloting bills such as the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act and Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) or Triple Talaq Bill, 2019.
The protest called by NESO, which includes prominent student bodies in the seven states of the region, began at 5am and has the support of most civil society groups and indigenous organisations opposed to the legislation.
Protesters blocked roads at several places in Guwahati and across Assam since early morning. Some burnt tyres on roads and there were reports of vehicles being damaged at some places in upper Assam.
Most shops and business establishments downed shutters, educational institutions have been closed and ongoing examinations of universities deferred. Protesters also blocked the movement of trains at some places.
At several places, protesters came out on the streets and carried out marches shouting slogans against Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“It is important to realise that CAB is for the whole of India and not only for Assam. But a section has maligned the image of the state by spreading misinformation that only Assam will have to again bear the burden of illegal immigrants,” Sonowal tweeted on Monday.
The protests coincide with Shahid Diwas (Martyrs Day), which is commemorated every year in Assam to remember the 855 people, who lost their lives during the six-year agitation against illegal immigrants.
Protests are also taking place in Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh—states with inner line permit (ILP) regime—which have been exempted from the purview of CAB.
Mizoram’s biggest student body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), announced on Monday that they will go ahead with the strike on Tuesday to show solidarity with people from other parts of the region which are not exempted from CAB.
Besides states with ILP, areas in the Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam which are under Sixth Schedule of Constitution and have autonomous districts will also be kept outside CAB’s purview.
In Assam, the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD), Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts will be exempted from CAB.
While the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley region is welcoming the legislation, people in the Brahmaputra Valley are protesting as they feel they will have to take the entire burden of illegal immigrants.
On Monday, Union home minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that ILP will be extended to Manipur as well. The BJP-led government there has welcomed the move and declared a holiday on Tuesday to mark the ‘historic occasion’.
While Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC) has suspended its Tuesday shutdown, All Manipur Students Union (AMSU) has decided to support NESO’s call for the general strike.
“Why was Assam left out of ILP regime? There seems to be some hidden agenda of the Central government,” said AMSU president in-charge Laishram Athouba Meitei in Imphal on Monday.
There’s apprehension among many that if the entire northeast is not kept outside CAB, it could lead to infiltration of illegal immigrants from Assam or Tripura to other neighbouring states.
