Guwahati: Defying prohibitory order, hundreds of protestors assembled near Dispur capital complex to register their protest against the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 and warned the BJP government to refrain from pushing the bill in the parliament. However, police which had made elaborate security arrangement did not allow the protestors to reach near the secretariat.
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi along with members of 70 organisations staged a protest meeting on the premises of the Dispur Press Club, adjacent to the secretariat, accusing the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP Assam government of working against the interests of indigenous people of the state by supporting the bill.
The protestors not only slammed the government but also accused the BJP and RSS of backing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. They also called the voters to teach BJP a lesson by defeating the party in the ensuing panchayat elections in the state.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to incorporate provisions of granting Indian citizenship to illegal migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religious communities who came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The bill has been opposed in Assam as protestors said that it would nullify the provision of the Assam Accord, which fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for deportation of illegal immigrants irrespective of religion from Assam.
Other speakers at the meeting alleged that protestors who had taken out motorcycle rallies from different parts of the state were not allowed to proceed to Guwahati.
Stating that the organisers had prior police permission for holding the meeting, the demonstrators accused the administration of imposing the prohibitory order ‘to muzzle the democratic voice of the citizens’.
Accusing the chief minister of functioning “under the orders of the RSS”, the speakers urged Mr Sonowal to “give up his Hitlerian rule as it was against the people of Assam”.
