GUWAHATI: The students’ wing of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) on Thursday staged a protest against the “anti-indigenous” Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Guwahati, along with various other parts of the state.
About 500 protesters formed a human chain to mark the protest at Guwahati’s Rotary point on Tursday. The protest was part of the organization’s weeklong protest.
Bitu Sonowal, president of the organization, said the Act must be scrapped for the interest of the indigenous people. “People of the state will never accept the Act, which jeopardises their existential identity. The Act, if implemented, will harm the state’s demography to a great extent and consequently the greater Assamese community will turn into a minority,” he added.
He said the BJP government has opened doors for Bangaldeshis by striving to implement the Act. “According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there are 1.7 lakh Hindu people in the neighbouring country. Assam will be flooded with these people if the Act is implemented,” Sonowal said.
Manas Konwar, executive president of the students’ wing, said, “It is very unfortunate that the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government, which shouts slogan of Jati, Mati and Bheti, has opened the door for these Hindu Bagladeshis by striving to implement the Act, while neighbouring states, including Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, have opposed the Act. Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma-led National Peoples’ Party, which is an ally of the saffron party, also opposed the Act.”
The protesters also demanded release of KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi, who has been in jail for over a year now. Konwar added that the outfit will organise a bicycle rally, torch rally and public meetings over the next week across the state.