NE 'bandh' Tuesday against Citizenship Amendment Bill

A number of students' organisation and political parties have called an 11-hour northeast 'bandh' on Tuesday to protest the Citizenship Amendment Bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Several students' bodies of the region have decided to observe the 5 am to 4 pm 'bandh' in support of the call given by the North East Students' Organisation (NESO), an umbrella organisation of students' unions, of which the AASU is a constituent.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has called for a state-wide bandh after a gap of 10 years and it is supported by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which withdrew support to the BJP-led government in Assam during the day, the opposition Congress, the AIUDF, and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS).

The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to people from minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 even if they don't possess any proper document.

The AGP and other groups in Assam have said that the provisions of the bill will nullify the 1985 Assam Accord, which provides for deportation of all illegal migrants, irrespective of religion, who had entered the state after March, 1971.

"This is a crisis for the Assamese society, and all indigenous communities of the region in general. We will not allow the government to pass the Bill at any cost," AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi told PTI in Guwahati.

The movement needs to be taken to all interior places across Assam and the northeast so that the BJP does not pass the Bill, he said.

Assam Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia said, "District SPs have been instructed to ensure public peace. Appropriate forces have been deployed across the state to prevent any untoward incidents. Patrolling has also been intensified at all places."