All colleges under Dibrugarh University in Upper Assam on Wednesday decorated the Saraswati Puja pandals with anti-CAA banners and slogans to create awareness among people.
“As per the instructions of the central committee of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), we have decorated the Saraswati Puja mandap with anti-CAA themes and all the colleges under Dibrugarh University have done this. We intend to create awareness among people, both young and old, in towns or villages, that CAA is not good for us and so we are not going to accept it,” Pallab Jyoti Moran, president of Doomdooma College Students Union, told The Telegraph.
“We won’t stay like second-class citizens under illegal Bangladeshis. Don’t treat us like second-class citizens. We are against illegal immigrants, Hindus or Muslims. We have taken their burden till 1971. We want the bill scrapped. Please save the Northeast, save Assam to save India. We want to tell Modi we will not accept, we will not tolerate CAA. We will continue with our peaceful protest till the law is scrapped,” he added.
“This India is not of a particular party or leader. This India is of Indians. Assam belongs to each and every indigenous person. No government can impose whatever they want. We are against CAA and will remain against CAA,” Madhu Bala Chetry, a student, said.
Assam witnessed major protests after the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on December 9 last year. Five persons died in alleged police firing in the anti-CAA protests.
The law will accord citizenship to six persecuted communities from three neighbouring Islamic countries who had entered the country before December 31, 2014, even without valid documents. In Assam, the people are worried that CAA will help lakhs of Bangladeshi Hindus settle in the state, posing a threat to the language and culture of the state.
“The CAA violates the provisions of the Assam Accord and is anti-Assam and unconstitutional,” said Sriram Tanti, a student.
According to the Accord, the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal migrants is March 24, 1971.
