New Delhi: Reiterating that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 won't be acceptable for the people of Assam and Northeast, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Monday appealed to student bodies and people across India to support them to "protect Assam and Northeast today for saving India tomorrow".
"We appeal to people across India to support us to save Northeast today and support Northeast to save India tomorrow," said Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, advisor of the influential student organization of Assam (AASU) to ETV Bharat in New Delhi.
AASU has been spearheading the anti-CAA protest ever since the Bill was passed in Parliament, which later became an Act with President's assent. Although rules for the CAA are yet to be framed by the Union Home Ministry, the student body has again spearheaded its movement against the CAA by organizing a protest march across Assam.
Bhattacharya said that along with North East Student Organisation (NESO), another mega protest program will be launched in the Northeast against CAA. "People of Assam are clear that they won't accept CAA. It's a violation of the historic Assam Accord and it's unconstitutional. Government can't forcibly impose CAA on the people of Northeast," said Bhattacharya.
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He reiterated that neither Assam nor any parts of the Northeast can be a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis. "Assam has a long and peaceful movement from 1979 to 1985 where more than 860 people have died and thousands became handicapped due to police atrocities. And in the last 30 years, the accord has not yet been implemented in Assam," said Bhattacharya.
The AASU spearheaded the Assam agitation in 1979 against illegal Bangladeshis and following a six-year-long movement, Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the then Central and Assam government and AASU to end the agitation. "Assam and Northeast have become a heaven for the Jihadi and Al Qaeda activists. The government is neither fencing the porous border nor doing anything to check the unabated illegal influx from Bangladesh," he added.
The AASU leader was in the national capital as a division bench comprising Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Ravindra Bhatt to take up the petitions challenging the CAA 2019 for hearing. "The Supreme Court has asked the Assam and Tripura government to file counter affidavit over the writ petitions that were filed challenging the CAA," said Bhattacharya.
He informed that the apex court has set October 31 as the next date of hearing for the petitions pertaining to CAA. More than 200 petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the controversial Act. "The court today also asked the Assam and Tripura government to file counter affidavit over the writ petitions in next four weeks," said Bhattacharya.
