New Delhi: A day after the Central government issued notification for implementing Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Tuesday filed a fresh writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the rules and a stay order on it. A three-member delegation of the influential student body comprising its chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya, president Utpal Sarma and general secretary Shankar Jyoti Baruah signed the petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of the organisation.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Bhattacharya said, “We have filed a fresh petition in the Supreme Court against CAA rules. We appealed to the court to put a stay order on such notification, which aims to gain only political benefit by posing a serious challenge for the indigenous people of Assam.”
He said that at a time when the CAA issue is still on in the apex court, “How can the Central government announce notification for CAA rules?” “On December 13, 2019, when CAA came we challenged it in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, several other organisations from Northeast and other parts of India filed separate petitions. Ultimately, there are 246 petitions against CAA in the court,” said Bhattacharya.
Reiterating their demand to scrap the CAA, Bhattacharya said that the North East Student Organisation (NESO) will also file similar petitions against CAA rules implementation. Criticising the BJP for playing the saffron party's vote bank politics, Bhattacharya said that the student body had been fighting for the identity of the indigenous people of Assam.
Bhattacharya further said that the student body will intensify their movement against CAA. “We want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister about their strategy to exclude Inner Line Permit (ILP) and Sixth Schedule areas in Northeast from the ambit of CAA. If CAA is not good for these areas, how can it be helpful for other areas of the region,” said Bhattacharya.
The CAA rules, which were notified by the Central government on Monday, aim to give Indian citizenship to the persecuted non-Muslim people coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. As per the notified CAA, Indian citizenship will be given to the people of Hindu, Singh, Parsi, Jain, Christian and Buddhist communities, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
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