Protests continue in Assam against citizenship bill

Protests against the citizenship bill continued unabated across Assam on 'Shilpi Divas' on Thursday, with people and student unions taking out processions, forming human chains, putting up black flags and burning copies of the contentious legislation.

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 at a function at Tezpur to continue his protests against the bill.

A 'Black Day' was observed at Mangaldoi town, where Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was present at a 'Shilpi Divas' function, which marks the death anniversary of cultural icon and first Assamese film-maker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8 and is pending in the Rajya Sabha, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) adviser Akhil Gogoi, who is in the forefornt of the protest, claimed that around 20-lakh Hindu Bangladeshis would immediately become Indians if the bill is passed by the Parliament.

"We will shed our blood, but will not allow the bill to be passed. We will do everything possible to stop it," he said at a press conference here.

Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) planted black flags at Mangaldoi and attempted to block roads. Scores of them were picked up in connection with it, police said.

Black flags were also planted at Goalpara, where Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass went for a meeting.

Artistes and the people were seen protesting against the bill and burning copies of it at various 'Shilpi Divas' programmes. Copies of the bill were burnt at Rangia by artistes, reports said.

Almost a kilometre-long human chain was formed at Mariani and a procession was taken out to protest against the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha.

Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi recited a poem at a 'Shilpi Divas' function in Jorhat and urged the people to fight against the "communal" bill.

At Bokakhat in Golaghat district, journalists held an hour-long sit-in, while, at the cemetery of Agarwala, the All Assam Student's Union (AASU) members took pledge to continue its fight against the bill