The Rajiv Gandhi University Students’ Union (RGUSU) and the Students’ Union of Nerist (SUN) have declared to intensify their movements against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act “till the voices of people in the Northeast are heard by the Centre”.

Joining the rest of the region, the RGUSU and the SUN had on Friday organised a peaceful mass rally against the act in which thousands of students and people from all walks from life participated.

The rally was taken out from the Rajiv Gandhi University campus in Rono hills to Raj Bhavan as the protesters covered almost 45 km on foot. A memorandum, demanding revocation of the act, was also submitted to the governor by the students.

“The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is communal, detrimental and anti-national. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah are more concerned about their personal and political benefits, rather than people’s welfare,” RGUSU president Dopum Sonam told reporters at the Press Club here on Sunday.

Sonam said the BJP government wanted to create communal disturbance in the country and particularly in the Northeast. “The BJP is trying its best to make India a Hindu nation. Its very intent is to rule the country by implementing the citizenship act. The idea is to create communal tension in the Northeast,” Sonam said, adding that the BJP was following a “divide and rule policy”.

SUN president Tadar Mamang said: “We condemn the BJP and its ideology of creating a Hindu nation. If needed, we will knock the doors of the court and fight legally against this contentious and communal citizenship act.”