AASU hits out at Centre for favoring immigrants, pitches against Citizenship Bill

Leading students union of Assam AASU Wednesday termed the BJP-led central government as the "saviour of illegal Bangladeshis" and appealed to opposition parties to vote against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Rajya Sabha.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and its 30 allied organisations also vowed to stop the free movement of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP MLAs if they did not end the "conspiracy" to destroy Assamese identity, culture and language, as protests against the Bill continued to rock the northeastern state. Peasants organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and its 70 allied indigenous groups brought out a torchlight procession demanding to scrap of the Bill, while the North East Congress Co-ordination Committee (NECCC) adopted a resolution demanding it.

"Except BJP, all other parties are opposing the Bill. We appeal to all of them to vote against it in Rajya Sabha. We are looking at them with great hope. This will prove who is with the North East and its people," AASU chief adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said addressing a public rally here.

The rally called 'Khilonjiyar Bajra Ninad' (indigenous people's war cry) was attended by a large number of students, artists, intellectuals, educationists, filmmakers and entrepreneurs. Bhattacharya said the people of the North East will not accept Delhi imposing "anything and everything" on it to destroy its indigenous culture and identity and added that public and village meetings would be held in all corners of Assam from Thursday to intensify the protest against the Bill.

"This way we will intensify our agitation and unite the entire state against the saviours of illegal Bangladeshis who are sitting at Dispur now. "This Bill has to be scrapped. If it is imposed on us, if you (the Centre) try to finish our culture, language and identity, you cannot live in peace," he said.

Hitting out at Sonowal for saying that it was wrong for students to protest publicly, Bhattacharya said the chief minister was also a student leader during the Assam Agitation. "Was he wrong that time? If so, then he should first apologise to the people of Assam," he said.

The NECCC said even if the BJP passed the Bill in Rajya Sabha by resorting to undemocratic means, the Congress will scrap the law when it forms the government at the Centre. AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said a "continuous political conspiracy" was on to destroy the Assamese identity and the BJP was trying to polarise the society on communal lines.

"Under the undemocratic prime minister and chief minister, a fascist government is trying to forcefully impose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on us. People of Assam are committed to blocking it at any cost. We will never accept the conspiracy to get it passed in Rajya Sabha," he said.

"If the CM and other BJP MLAs continue to engage in the plot to destroy the Assamese community, AASU and other 30 indigenous groups will stop their free movement in the state," he added. All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) president Pramod Boro asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he had forgotten the North East and was it a mistake of its people to vote for the saffron party.

"When the people of NE do not want it (legislation of the Citizenship Bill), why are you doing it? You are not a king, but a representative of the people. You (PM) said NRC would be completed. Then why did you not wait till its completion? It would have identified the illegal infiltrators. You cannot change everything as per your wish. This is not a democracy. People will throw you out from power," he added. Speaking on the occasion, popular Assamese singer

Zubeen Garg, who had demanded that Sonowal return the votes the BJP had got in the 2016 Assembly polls using the election song sung by him, pledged his support to the struggle against the Bill and demanded that it be cancelled. KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi met senior Congress leader

Jairam Ramesh and appealed to oppose the Bill in every platform across the country. The opposition Congress organised 'Sankalp Divas' coinciding with the 122nd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and took the pledge to fight the "communal Bill". The National Highway-37 at Dhola-Sadiya was blocked by protesters demanding the withdrawal of the Bill.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on January 8 which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India even if they do not possess any document. Massive protests broke out across Assam and other parts of North East after Modi announced in Silchar on January 4 that the controversial document would be passed as soon as possible in Parliament.

(With inputs from agencies.)