The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Sunday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “massive protests” if he visits Assam to inaugurate the Khelo India Youth Games here on January 10.
Though the Prime Minister’s visit is yet to be confirmed, the Assam government said it’s making all-out efforts to make the sporting event a memorable experience.
The Prime Minister is likely to visit Assam for the first time after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed, to kick off the Games.
The students’ union said it’s keeping a “close watch” on activities around the T20 match between India and Sri Lanka on January 5.
Sri Lanka’s tour of India 2020 is scheduled to begin here when the visiting nation will take on home favourites at ACA stadium here.
AASU chief adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharjya told reporters, “If the Prime Minister visits Assam for the Khelo India Games, then he is going to face massive protests. We are also keeping our eyes on the T20 cricket match. When the time comes we will reveal our plans but Modi will surely face the music if he dares to come here after betraying the people of the state.”
On Saturday, Bhattacharjya challenged Modi to a public debate on CAA.
Terming chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma “cowards”, the students’ union blamed the state leadership of failing the people of the state.
“Instead of organising peace rallies, our leaders should be busy urging the Centre to take steps to protect the indigenous people’s rights over language, culture, economy and political rights. When the rest of the states of the Northeast are either working to get away from CAA, our leaders are cowards and have been saying ‘yes’ to the commands of their party leaders in Delhi,” he added.
AASU said the ruling BJP has no moral right to organise peace rallies after five persons, including school students, were killed in alleged police firing during the anti-CAA protests in the state.
“Assam has been at the forefront of the anti-CAA movements in the country and has set an example of how a peaceful movement can make an impact. After the anti-CAA movement gained momentum, the state cabinet hurriedly decided to approach the Centre to declare Assamese the state language. It’s simply an admission that CAA will threaten our language,” said AASU president Dipanka Nath.
The students’ union asked the state government to clarify its “source” of information on the total number of Hindu Bangladeshis who would be covered by CAA.
The AASU leader said, “The chief minister says there are ‘negligible’ beneficiaries of CAA in Assam and the finance minister says it’s around 5 lakh. But what’s the source of this number? If the government is citing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) records, then we want to ask why quote the NRC when the government itself has already rejected it?”
Reiterating that the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord is not an answer to CAA, Bhattacharjya added, “Clause 6 is our right. Protection under it was given after Assam had agreed to keep illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators till March 24, 1971. It is not the answer to illegal settlers till 2014. Why is the government misleading people?”
The CAA seeks to grant Indian nationality to minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled to India due to religious persecution on or before December 31, 2014, whereas the Assam Accord had fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date to identify foreigners in the state.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “AASU will continue its anti-CAA movements. On January 9, there will be protests followed by a torchlight rally on January 11. We will also burn the CAA in the meji fire during Bhogali Bihu.”
The students’ union also extended support to the Sadou Asam Karmachari Parishad’s protest on Tuesday, declaring it a “black day” and appealed to government employees to attend work wearing black badges. It also appealed the people of Assam to ignite a diya in the name of the martyrs of the anti-CAA movement on Wednesday.
