KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi to hold hunger strike on Magh Bihu over Citizenship Bill

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) Adviser Akhil Gogoi Friday announced that he will hold a 24-hour hunger strike on the coming Magh Bihu festival, of which community feast is an integral part, to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

"I will not celebrate Magh Bihu this time and will not eat anything on 'Uruka'. I will observe a 24-hour hunger strike with other representatives of 70 organisations from the afternoon of January 14 to protest against the Bill," he told a press conference.

On 'Uruka' night, the first day of the three-day Magh Bihu, people enjoy community feast with new harvest and it is one of the main attractions of the festival. Magh Bihu is one of the three Bihu festivals of the state.

The KMSS chief said till the controversial Bill is scrapped, the protest will continue as BJP has plans to pass it in Rajya Sabha during the Budget session scheduled to commence on January 31. The KMSS is one of the major organisations that was holding protests across Assam against the controversial bill. "The danger of the Bill getting passed is not over yet. We cannot relax. So we will continue our agitation till January 31, when the Parliament will meet again for the Budget Session," Gogoi said.

The Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and entered India before December 31, 2014.