Students boycott classes in Assam univs and colleges against

Classes across universities and colleges in Assam were affected on Wednesday due to the "total shutdown" call given by students unions of nine varsities from North East on a day the Supreme Court heard the pleas on Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

However, examinations were conducted peacefully as the agitators had kept it out of the shutdown.

The students unions of Tezpur University, North Eastern Hill University, Gauhati University, Assam Women's University, Assam Agricultural University, Dibrugarh University, Nagaland University, Rajiv Gandhi University and North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology had called for the boycott.

Hearing a batch of 143 petitions, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the government four weeks to respond to the pleas challenging the CAA and said a five-judge Constitution bench will hear the matter.

"We will not accept the CAA at any cost. We had called for class boycott today and our agitation will continue till the Act is repealed," Dibrugarh University Post Graduate Students Union General Secretary Rahul Chetry told PTI.

Hundreds of students wearing black badges and carrying black flags gathered at the gate of Dibrugarh University and burnt copies of CAA.

Chetry informed that 21 universities of North East will organise a "Tiranga March" in Guwahati on January 26 against the new citizenship law.

Accepting that classes did not take place, Dibrugarh University Internal Quality Control Director, Kalyan Bhuyan said "Usually January is our vacation month. However, examinations are going on peacefully."