AS-BILL-PROTEST

Protests continued unabated

against the Citizenship Bill across the state on Sunday and

over hundred agitators were picked up when they blocked the

road to Kaziranga University, where Chief Minister Sarbananda

Sonowal went for its convocation.

While Sonowal was in the 5th Convocation ceremony of

the university at Jorhat, over 100 protesters from Krishak

Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra

Parishad (AJYCP) shouted slogans and showed black flags in

front of the main gate.

As the protesters tried to enter the premises,

security forces confronted them that led to a clash. Members

from both sides suffered minor injuries.

The situation was brought under control after the

arrest of over 100 protesters and all of them were immediately

shifted from the university campus, a police official said.

Police detained the agitators for a brief period till

the programme got over and cleared the road.

The condition of three student leaders, who were on an

indefinite hunger strike inside jail after they were arrested

on January 8 for allegedly vandalising BJP office at Golaghat,

deteriorated and they were admitted to hospital.

Members of Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad

(AJYCP) tonsured their head at Jamugurihat demanding immediate

withdrawal of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

In Karbi Anglong district, hundreds of students

blocked the National Highway-36 for hours, while Jogi and

Kalita communities burnt copies of the Bill on NH-37 at

Dudhnoi in Goalpara.

Leading artistes poets and singers, including popular

singer Dikshu, held a sit-in at Golaghat and demanded the

government o scrap the document.

The Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill

called for burning of the replica of the Bill during 'Magh

Bihu' on Tuesday.

Criticising the BJP-led government at Centre and

state, the Left Democratic Manch vowed to continue the

agitation till the Bill is scrapped completely and announced a

series of programme across the state from February 1.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to amend the

Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to the

Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who

fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh,

Pakistan and entered India before December 31, 2014, after six

years of residence in the country, instead of the current 12

years, even if they do not possess any proper document.