Festivities and anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act sentiments went hand-in-hand during Saraswati Puja here on Thursday.
Students of Gauhati and Cotton universities decorated the mandaps with anti-CAA banners and slogans against the “contentious” Act.
Students even set up a selfie point where one could get their photos clicked with anti-CAA messages in the background. One of the selfie points was quite innovative, modelled on a Facebook page where “We oppose CAA” was inscribed and on the “block list” were Himanta (minister Himanta Biswa Sarma) and Sarba (chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Ravan, among others.
Gauhati University students also put up a map of Assam made of thread and bamboo stick with a banner in the background saying “the state is out of bounds for illegal immigrants”.
At Cotton University, the idol was garlanded with a gamosa, which is usually used to felicitate/welcome people but has been increasingly used by anti-CAA protesters. This is the second time in a month that festivities had turned into a platform for protest against the Act. During Magh Bihu, anti-CAA protesters had also burnt copies of the citizenship law in the meji (traditional bonfire).
“We decorated the mandap with anti-CAA themes. Assam is celebrating Saraswati Puja but studies and protest will go together as the contentious Act affects the interests of the people of the state. It is a symbolic protest to signify that CAA is not good for us and we are not going to accept it,” Gauhati University Post-Graduate Students’ Union general secretary Moon Talukdar told The Telegraph.
Students earlier launched the Saturday Against CAA campaign protesting against the Act, where they said studies and protests will go hand in hand.
Talukdar said as part of the “peaceful protest”, photographs of the Assam Agitation and its first martyr Khargeswar Talukdar were also exhibited. “The CAA violates provisions of the Assam Accord and is an anti-Assam and unconstitutional act,” Gauhati University student Parashar Kalita said.
All colleges under Dibrugarh University in Upper Assam had decorated mandaps with anti-CAA banners and slogans on Wednesday.