'Ran Hunkar' by students against CAB; artistes, intellectuals

Students staged a 'Ran Hunkar' (War Cry) against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill in the city's premier Cotton State University on Friday which was participated by intellectuals and artists.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) along with 30 indigenous organisations staged protests against the bill across Assam and burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

The legislation is expected to be tabled in Parliament on Monday. Non-Muslim refugees who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution, will not be treated as illegal immigrants and will be given Indian citizenship if the proposed amendments to the six- decade-old Citizenship Act come into effect.

Eminent academic and intellectual Hiren Gohain, journalist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, popular singer, composer and actor Zubeen Garg and singer Manas Robin were among others who addressed the protest meet at the Cotton State University which was attended by students from different colleges.

All speakers were unanimous that the CAB cannot be accepted at any cost and the protests against it will continue till it is withdrawn.

"It is heartening to note that all students' organisations of the state have protested against the Bill and students of Cotton State University, the region's premier educational institution, have raised a war cry against the CAB which threatens the very identity of the indigenous people," Gohain said.

Garg said that no Assamese can accept the CAB. "I stand with the student community who have come out to protest against the bill".

"No students' organisations have supported the Bill and the BJP government both at the Centre and the state should take this into cognsiance and not go ahead with it just for the sake of politics," he added.

The Dibrugarh University Post Graduate Students' Union and Cotton State University Students' Union have indefinitely banned the entry of any member of the ruling BJP, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, RSS and others supporting the bill in the two universities' campuses.

The premier literary organisation Asom Sahitya Sabha, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba- Chatra Parishad and major social and political organisations barring the ruling combine of BJP-AGP-BPF have announced that they will continue to agitate against the bill till it was withdrawn.

The Government College of Arts and Crafts Students Union and Guwahati University Teachers' Association also staged protests against the proposed bill, which had been passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8 but had lapsed.