Various political and social organisations across Assam thronged Dispur Last Gate here on the first day of Assam Assembly’s winter session to stage protests on a number of issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens (NRC) across India.

The CPM, CPI, CPI (M-L), Asom Songrami Mancha, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Aam Aadmi Party, Liberal Democratic Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI) staged a protest under the umbrella of the Left Democratic Manch, Assam, demanding that the cabinet take a decision to oppose the citizenship bill.

CPM state general secretary Deben Bhattacharya said: “Both the Centre and the state government are quite indifferent to the bill issue despite widespread protests across the Northeast. We condemn the whimsical move of the Centre and the state government to impose the bill on this region.”

Stating that the Centre’s attempt to impose the controversial bill on religious line would damage the secular structure of the country, Bhattacharya said: “The bill is unconstitutional and communal. It is against the fundamental rights of the citizens of India.”

He said if the bill was passed, it would encourage more foreign nationals to come and settle in the Northeast, particularly in Assam, instead of stopping fresh influx and deporting the already-settled foreign nationals.

“It will invalidate the Assam Accord which is the only instrument to identify and deport the illegally-settled foreigners from the state. It will also overthrow the NRC conducted in Assam under the guidance of the Supreme Court with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date,” Bhattacharya said.

Speculating that the implementation of the bill would change the demography of the Northeast in general and Assam in particular, Bhattacharya said: “It will destroy the socio-cultural fabric, sense of Assamese nationalism and contract the economic space for indigenous people.”

Bhattacharya urged chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to understand the sentiments and resentments of the indigenous people of the state. “We believe he (chief minister) will pay due importance to the severity of the issue and take a decision in the state cabinet to oppose the bill collectively,” Bhattacharya added.