Citizenship Bill Row: Protests Rage on in Universities across Assam

Guwahati, December 8, 2019:

Students across the State of Assam have launched mass agitations against the controversial Citizenship Bill. The protests have been raging on for quite a while at the Universities across the state -- such as the Cotton University, Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, and Tezpur University. However, the protests have gained extra steam with the Bill heading closer to tabulation.

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The students of Dibrugarh University on Saturday took out a massive torchlight rally on the streets to express their disdain for the controversial Citizenship Bill. Slogans decrying the BJP-led administration in the State, and hailing the motherland, could be heard. The students also demanded the Assam leaders to step down as they have "shamed" the people.

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The tension and excitement in the air was palpable, as the students screamed their hearts out, and cautioned the Assam CM and the senior BJP Ministers not to allow the implementation of the Bill.

A similar sentiment was also witnessed at the Tezpur University, where hundreds -- if not thousands -- of students spilled out onto the streets to protest the contentious Bill. Beating gongs, drums, and cymbals, the students of the University created a din on the campus.

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Over in Sikkim University, the Assamese students staged a protest against the Bill and demanded that the Government immediately withdraw the Bill. In the “Rudra Biplab” or ‘red rebellion’, the students called on Assam's jatiya nayak Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to oppose the Bill.

It may be mentioned here that the stir against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has reached fever-pitch in Assam ahead of the Bill's tabulation in the Lok Sabha on December 9.

It may be mentioned here that the Government is aiming to amend a 1955 law that grants citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-dominated countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan if they have lived in India for six years or more. This Bill has been slammed as "unconstitutional" and "communal" by the indigenous bodies and student organizations of Assam.

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