AASU members show black flags to convoy of Assam cabinet minister

Workers of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Sunday showed black flags to the convoy of state cabinet minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in Dibrugarh to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Patowary was in Dibrugarh on Sunday, where he took part in the 71st Republic Day event.

The ASSU activists raised slogans against the BJP government and the amended citizenship law.

Rupjyoti Borthakur, Secretary, AASU told ANI that the protests were being held against the BJP government "for trampling upon the democracy".

"Today on the Republic Day we are protesting against the BJP government that has trampled upon the democracy. We will continue the protests till the CAA is taken back," Borthakur told ANI here.

Earlier on January 15, AASU members had also shown black flags to the convoy of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was visiting Chauba in Dibrugarh on the occasion of Bihu festival.

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has already withdrawn support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Assam over the CAA.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

The Assamese people fear that it is the BJP government's way to give citizenship from the backdoor to lakhs of people who have been excluded from the state NRC. The move, they argue, would nullify the Assam Accord signed between the Government of India and Assam agitators in August 1985 after a long, bloody agitation.

Around 19 lakh people, majority of them Hindus, have been excluded from the citizenship register in Assam that had set March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. In the enumeration that ended on July 31 last year, all those who could not produce documents to show they entered Assam before that date were left out of the NRC.