Large parts of the northeast simmered in anger against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday with students and left organsations enforcing a shutdown leading to internet services being stopped in Tripura for 48 hours after there were reports of violence and arson.
A day before the contentious legislation, passed by the Lok Sabha, is tabled in the Upper House, normal life was paralysed in Assam's Brahmaputra Valley during the shutdown that was led by the All Assam Students' Union and the North East Students' Organisation (NESO).
Several Left organisations, including the SFI, DYFI, AIDWA, AISF and AISA had also called a shutdown separately. Huge processions were taken out in several areas of Guwahati, with protesters raising slogans against the legislation and burning effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
There was a scuffle between agitators and security forces near the secretariat and Assembly buildings in Assam when they were prevented from moving forward, police said.
In Dibrugarh district, bandh supporters clashed with CISF personnel. Three protesters sustained injuries as they tried to prevent workers of Oil India Ltd (OIL) from entering their offices in Duliajan.
Convoys of Sonowal and other state ministers were diverted as the protesters blocked major thoroughfares. Train services across Assam were affected as picketers blocked the tracks, a spokesperson for the Railways said.
Slogan-shouting agitators picketed the Assam headquarters of the BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Doordarshan Kendra and the office of a private TV channel owned by the wife of health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Speaking at a function in Guwahati, Sonowal asked protesters to not spread “misinformation” and refrain from creating unrest in the state. “Building a robust work culture in the state should be the prime objective of everyone and youth must not be misled to join agitations,” he said.
The strike, however, had a partial impact in the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley. AASU leaders on Tuesday evening said they would move Supreme Court against the controversial bill.
Market set ablaze
In Tripura, agitators enforced a bandh called by the NESO. They also set fire to Manughat market in Dhalai district where several non-tribals had shops. However, no one was injured and the blaze was doused.
Internet services have been suspended in Tripura for 48 hours from 2 pm on Tuesday to prevent mischief mongers from spreading rumours, an official notification said.
An ailing two-month-old baby died at Bishramganj in Sepahijala district while being taken to a hospital as agitators had blocked traffic, police said. The bandh threw normal life out of gear in Dhalai, West Tripura and Khowai districts with residents remaining indoors. Attendance in offices was thin.
Train services in the entire state came to a halt and vehicular movement was affected.
Arunachal offices empty
Educational institutions, banks, commercial establishments and markets were closed while public and private vehicles were off the roads in most places in Arunachal Pradesh in response to the strike called by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU).
Attendance in government offices was almost nil during the bandh which began at 5 am, officials said.
Manipur shutdown total
The shutdown called by the All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU) from 3 am to 6 pm elicited overwhelming response, and the organisation has warned it would intensify the agitation if the bill was not immediately withdrawn.
Tyres were set on fire and vehicles were vandalized in the Meghalaya capital of Shillong, as protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails at a police van in the Mawlai area, East Khasi Hills district deputy commissioner M.W. Nongbri told PTI. Additional police and CRPF forces have been deployed in sensitive areas, officials said.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill piloted by home minister Amit Shah was passed by the Lok Sabha with an overwhelming majority on Monday night.
According to the bill, non-Muslim minorities, who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and moved to India before December 31, 2014, would be accorded citizenship.
The bill, however, exempts tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, and areas covered under the Inner Line Permit system, notified under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. Shah has asserted that the Modi government was committed to protecting the customs and culture of the northeastern states in an effort to assuage concerns that the proposed law would hurt their distinct identity and alter regional demography.