Citizenship Bill: Students' union of Assam's Cotton University bans BJP-RSS

Amidst a clamour for withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the students' union and alumni association of Cotton University have decided to ban the entry of members of the ruling BJP, RSS and other organisations supporting the bill into the varsity.

Cotton University Students Union general secretary Rahul Bordoloi in a joint press meet on Monday urged all the MLAs and MPs in Assam and other northeastern states to take a stand against the contentious bill.

Along with the BJP-RSS, the students' union and alumni association also banned entry of all organisations and leaders, who are supporting the CAB, into the institution, he said.

Bordoloi said the students' union opposes the CAB and it will organise a protest against it on December 5.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years. It had been passed in the previous Lok Sabha in January but was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill had lapsed after the term of the Lok Sabha ended in May.

On Sunday, Dibrugarh University Post Graduate Students' Union had announced that it would not allow any member of the ruling BJP, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, into the varsity in protest against the controversial bill.

Students of Cotton University also staged a protest march in the state capital on Sunday demanding withdrawal of the bill from Parliament.

Hundreds of students of the Dibrugarh University took out a protest march in the campus against the bill, saying that it will harm the Assamese community in future.

Rahul Chetry, the general secretary of the students' union, said that they have pledged not to allow entry of the chief minister into the varsity for his silence over the issue, and all other ministers.

Meanwhile, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the bill will be introduced and passed in Parliament by December 10.

Sonowal, responding to questions on his stand on the CAB, assured that the interests of the indigenous peoples in Assam will be protected. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting.