The Assam unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a two-hour sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Guwahati Club on Thursday.

AAP Assam secretary Bandip Dutta said, “AAP Assam has been opposing the CAA ever since the bill came up for discussion. We, the people of Assam, know that the Act has the potential of threatening the identity, culture and language of the Assamese community. Not just AAP, everyone who loves Assam has called for its scrapping.”

He said the Act was just another divisive policy of the government to divert the people from the prime issues of the country. “Our GDP has fallen to 4.5 per cent, which is lower than that of Bangladesh, but the government, instead of taking initiatives to improve the country’s economy, is dividing people on the basis of religion. The people of Assam should protest against CAA on a joint platform,” he added.

Dutta claimed that AAP was gaining in strength in Assam. He said they were protesting against CAA and would soon take up other issues of the state, like unemployment.

AAP had formed its Assam unit in 2013. It participated in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the state but failed to get any seat. From 2015, there was a decline in the party’s activities in the state but it became active during the CAA protests.

More than 300 youths joined the party here on Sunday, saying that it was the last hope for Assam.

Cong march

The Assam Congress on Thursday launched its second phase of Janajagaran Padayatra (mass awareness march) from Jonai in Upper Assam’s Dhemaji district. Hundreds of protesters participated in the protest march.

Addressing the gathering, PCC president Ripun Bora said the Congress, if voted to power in the next election, would put pressure on the Centre not the implement the CAA in the state. He said the BJP’s implementation of the CAA in Assam and the country would encourage illegal migrants from Bangladesh to settle in the state. “The Act is undemocratic, non-secular and unconstitutional. It will destroy the existence of the indigenous Assamese people. The BJP is imposing the CAA in Assam without the consent of the people. It must be scrapped,” Bora said.

Job cry: The Centre introduced the Act to divert the minds of the youth from unemployment, spokesperson for the National Youth Congress Ashutosh Chatterjee said in Agartala on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference at Pradesh Congress Bhavan, Chatterjee said, “The Act is a tool of the Centre to divert the minds of the youth from important issues like unemployment. Instead of providing two crore jobs Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised, the Centre terminated people from their jobs.”

The party on Thursday launched the National Register of Unemployment campaign. “We have issued a toll-free number, 8151994411, where unemployed people can call and extend their support to the campaign. We will make a list of unemployment youths and confront the government,” Chatterjee said.

Additional reporting by Avik Chakraborty in Dibrugarh and Tanmoy Chakraborty, Agartala