The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Saturday said it will neither yield an inch of land or budge an inch from its anti-Citizenship Amendment Act stand. It also said “India belongs to Indians, not to Narendra Modi or Amit Shah”.
The student union, which is at the forefront of the sustained anti-CAA protests, besides Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and leading citizens, addressing a massive rally in central Assam’s Nagaon town, conveyed this message to the ruling BJP and the Centre over their alleged efforts to impose the law despite widespread agitation.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi, reacting to Shah’s assertion at a rally in Jodhpur on Friday that the Modi government will not budge an inch on its CAA decision, said, “We will not yield an inch of land nor an inch on our stated position on the CAA. We will not take the burden of illegal foreigners, Muslims or Hindus.”
Gogoi has emerged as a leading light of the anti-CAA movement along with AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya, its president Dipanka Kumar Nath, AJYCP general secretary Palash Changmai and singer Zubeen Garg.
An aggressive Gogoi said, “This India is not of Modi or Shah. This India is of Indians. Assam does not belong to Sonowal or Himanta, it belongs to the Assamese people. They cannot impose whatever they want. We are against CAA and will remain against CAA.”
BJP president and home minister Amit Shah had said the Centre would not budge an inch even if Opposition parties opposed to the law, like the Congress, Trinamul and AAP, unite. “Yeh sab parties ekattha ho jaayen, lekin ek inch bhi wapas nahi jaayenge (Let all these parties unite but we will not backtrack even an inch),” he had said.
The anti-CAA protest has been continuing even before the bill was apassed by the Union cabinet on December 4. Five persons have died in alleged police firing after the protests turned violent on December 11.
The protesters have been targeting both Delhi and Dispur. Singer Zubeen Garg, in a TV interview, also went after state and central leaders over the CAA: “We will greet Modi with a peaceful protest at the airport if he comes for the Khelo India (Youth Games). He should feel what is going on here. Shah and Modi can never understand Assam. They will never understand.”
