Assam University restricts protests inside campus after BJP leader's warning

A day after BJP leader Pradip Dutta threatened Assamese speaking students of Barak valley to bar their admission in the Assam University, authorities of the Institute Saturday banned protests inside the campus without prior permission. Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, however, continued across Assam, mostly by the students' community. In an order, Assam University Registrar Dr Sanjib Bhattacharjee directed that no procession/dharna or any sort of gathering of people within the campus without prior approval of the authorities is strictly prohibited until further order.

The order that comes into force with immediate effect was issued with the approval of the vice-chancellor of the university, located at Silchar in Bengali dominated Barak valley. Any unauthorised gathering will be treated as a violation of the order and those involved in the violation will be dealt with as per rules, the order said. "I warn the Assamese (speaking) students of the university that you study only and don't indulge in politics. Think about the future. We then will be forced to bar admission of Assamese students in the university," Dutta was heard saying in local news channels Friday.

"I am writing to the vice-chancellor of the university asking him what step he is taking against the students for opposing the bill", Dutta said in Bengali. The threat came after a section of students of the University on Thursday came out in support of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, while another had taken out a candlelight vigil on Wednesday to protest against it. Dutta's statement was condemned by various quarters.

Cotton University Students Union (CUSU) in Guwahati even filed a complaint in Pan Bazar police station here against Dutta for making the communally provocative statement. Meanwhile, protests against the Bill continued in Guwahati where the Pratibandhi Suraksha Sanstha, an organisation of differently abled people, came out against the Bill at the Dighalipukhuri area here. Students of Nalbari College and Nalbari Commerce College boycotted their classes and burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Students of Nagaon College and intellectuals of Nagaon town also came out in protest against Bill and the sedition case filed against litterateur Dr Hiren Gohain, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) chief Akhil Gogoi and senior journalist Manjit Mahanta. In Majuli, Sonowal's assembly constituency, students of Majuli College boycotted classes and burnt tyres to protest against the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014. The North East Students' Organisation (NESO), a conglomerate of students' bodies of the region, also observed 'Black Day' in the states on Saturday to protest firing in Tripura during the bandh against the Bill on Tuesday. Meanwhile, students of the North East studying in IIT Bombay also took out a rally in the campus demanding the repeal of the bill, reports reaching here said.

(With inputs from agencies.)