Thousands of people in Assam on Sunday joined the Sankalp rally organised by nearly 70 organisations led by the KMSS.
Simultaneous rallies were taken out from Tinsukia, Dhubri, Karbi Anglong and Dhemaji districts of Assam to pile pressure on the government to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The state has seen a series of protests in the past few months following reports that the Centre would push the bill in the winter session of Parliament. The bill, introduced on July 15, 2016, in the Lok Sabha, envisages citizenship to Hindus and five other religious minorities from Bangladesh and other countries in the region but excludes Muslims.
The rally, taken out ahead of the panchayat elections on December 5 and 14, from all the four places will cover entire Assam before culminating in Dispur on November 16.
Besides the KMSS, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and AASU are at the forefront of the opposition against the bill. The AGP, an ally of the BJP-led state government, too openly opposed the bill.
KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi kickstarted the rally from B. Lachit Stadium in Chapakhowa, around 20km east of Dr Bhupen Hazarika Setu in Tinsukia district, with around 2,000 protesters on 1,000 motorcycles in Sadiya alone.
Addressing the protesters who had gathered at the stadium, Akhil said: “Assam is not a dumping ground of illegal Bangladeshis. Illegal migrants must not be differentiated on the basis of religion. It will violate the very idea of secularism. The amendment act will open a floodgate of migration of Hindu Bengalis from neighbouring Bangladesh into Assam and the legal entry will affect the socio-economic fabric of the state.”
Protesters halted at various small towns and delivered brief speeches against the bill. In one such speech at Doomdooma, Akhil said the bill must be scrapped.
“We will not take Bangladeshis in Assam. It is time to say ‘bye’ to the BJP and the RSS. Acche din, videshi kheda kotha koisile kintu kora nai (They spoke of good times and throwing out foreigners, but they did nothing). We will gherao the Janta Bhawan to make the government hear our concern and take action. If they still choose to ignore sentiments of local people, we will start a mass resistance movement from the next day.”
In Karbi Anglong, the protesters assembled in the heart of Diphu town. After a brief meeting they started the rally on motorbikes and private vehicles. In lower Assam’s Dhubri district, the AJYCP led the rally.
Hemen Chakraborty, in-charge president of the central committee of the AJYCP, said AASU, KMSS, the All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRSU), All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) and more than 50 other ethnic organisations joined the rally at Public Field of Bilasipara town in Dhubri around 11.30am. The AJYCP demanded that Dispur clear its stand on the bill.
At Jonai in Dhemaji district, the joint secretary, central committee of Atasu, Dulal Baruah, said the bill would have an adverse impact on the demography of Assam besides the language and culture of the indigenous tribes. He appealed to people from all walks of life to sternly oppose the passage of the bill.
Additional reporting by Vinod Kumar Singh in Dhemaji and Sarat Sarma in Nagaon