New Delhi: No sooner did the news spread about the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notifying the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – CAA – in Assam on Monday, March 11, protests erupted at several university campuses, including the Cotton University in Guwahati and the Dibrugarh University.
According to news reports, students came out in dozens, shouting slogans to protest against the implementation of the CAA across the non-Sixth Scheduled areas of Assam.
Student bodies like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) also came out on the streets in different parts of the state and burnt copies of the Act.
AASU, which has been at the forefront of the anti-foreigner agitation since the 1980s which ended with the Assam Accord, announced a bandh in the state.
AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya told reporters, “The CAA is not acceptable to us. The BJP government has today delivered the biggest blow to the Assamese people, our identity, and our culture. Our protest will continue.”
The CAA nullifies the citizenship cut-off date of March 1971 as per the Accord. As per the Act, a Bangladeshi Hindu who had entered the state till 2019 is eligible for citizenship and can settle permanently in the north-eastern state.
The two political parties which were born of the movement against the legislation – the Raijor Dal and the Asam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) – announced a ‘hartal’ and urged the Assamese people to come out of their homes to register protest.
AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi called March 11 “a black day for Assam” and condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments both at the state and the Centre for not heeding the Assamese people’s opposition to implementation of the the Act in the state.
“This Act will crush the identity, land and cultural rights of the community,” Gogoi said on social media platform X (previously called Twitter). Accusing the BJP of seeking the votes of the Assamese community to protect their rights but ending up giving it the biggest blow, he said, “BJP’s leaders from Assam like Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma failed to convince their central government to keep Assam out of the CAA … it is a black day for Assam … I urge people to get ready to fight this Act.”
Also read: On the Day SC Orders SBI to Reveal Electoral Bonds Data, Union Govt Announces Implementation of CAA
On March 11 night, Akhil Gogoi, MLA from the Sibsagar constituency, came out on the streets in Golaghat, along with a few party workers, and raised slogans against the Act.
On March 12 morning, he led a protest by his party at Sibsagar as part of a day-long joint “Sarbatmak Hartal” called by 16 like-minded Opposition parties across the state. “People are cooperating with us. I urge all the people of Assam to protest against the draconian black law which will completely deprive the indigenous people of Assam,” Akhil Gogoi said on X on March 12 afternoon.
After the peaceful demonstration against C(A)A at Sivasagar today, a legal notice U/S 152 Cr. PC, 1973 have been served to me while I was at the Circuit House by the government, thenceforth, ordering me and the “United Opposition Forum” to withdraw “Sarbatmak Hartal”. Such… pic.twitter.com/bsccfMxqJL
Advertisement— Akhil Gogoi (@AkhilGogoiAG) March 12, 2024
Since the last few days, the joint opposition under the banner of the United Opposition Forum of Assam has written to the president and the prime minister urging them to exclude Assam from the purview of the CAA. They said, “There is a strong perception among the people of Assam irrespective of caste, creed and political affiliation that the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 will put in danger the culture, history, socio-economic condition, social fabric and identity of Assamese people.”
The forum, which also includes the state unit of the Congress, also said that if it is implemented in Assam, they would resort to a strike. UOFA’s letter to the prime minister warned that a “volatile situation (is) likely to arise in Assam in the coming days”.
Soon after the demonstration, Gogoi was served a legal notice by the state police, asking his party and other like-minded Opposition parties to withdraw the protest call immediately.
The notice termed the hartal “illegal and unconstitutional”, citing “various judgments of the Supreme Court, Kerala high court as well as the Gauhati high court.”
“In this regard, your attention is drawn to the specific order passed by the honourable Gauhati High Court in writ petition © 7570/2013 dated 19 March 2019,” it said. The legal notice also threatened that “in case there is any damage to public/private property including railway and national highway properties or injury to any citizen caused due to ‘Sarbatmak Hartal’, legal action” would be initiated.
The police’s notice is in tandem with the state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s threat some days ago to the Opposition parties of Assam.
Citing the Gauhati high court order, he told reporters that if political parties call for a bandh to protest implementation of the CAA in Assam, he would write to the Election Commission of India to deregister them. Sarma is also the state home minister.
Reacting to the legal notice served by the state police, Akhil Gogoi said, “Such undemocratic and dictatorial steps of government sets a bad precedent against the upholding of democratic culture in India.”
Meanwhile, in anticipation of the MHA notifying the CAA before the general election dates are announced, the Sarma administration, since the last few days, have increased police presence on the streets of Guwahati and several other cities and towns of the state. On March 12 morning, people noticed state police commandos marching on the city streets.
Taking to X, state director general of police G.P. Singh said, “Assam Police has made arrangements to ensure that no one breaks any law. We are committed to protecting lives and property of residents of Assam from any kind of vandalism. Further, all laws and judicial pronouncements shall be fully implemented in accordance with laid down procedures.”
In December 2019, when the CAA was passed in Parliament, the state witnessed massive public protests, including violence in Guwahati. Singh was at once dispatched to Assam by the MHA to take over the law and order situation in the state. Hours after his takeover, five unarmed protesters, including a 17-year-old boy were allegedly shot dead in Guwahati.
In July 2022, hearing a petition filed by the father of the boy, a local court in Guwahati refused to accept the state police report on his death and named Singh, who was then additional director general of police (law and order) as a respondent.
