PUNE On Wednesday, 'LUIT – The Assamese Society in Pune', held its protest against the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) at the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Garden on Jangli Maharaj road.
LUIT member and protest organiser Bidyut Saikia, laid out what he claims is the stand the Assamese in Pune are taking on the controversial act.
Why the protest and what are your demands?
We organised a peaceful protest on Wednesday against the CAA as we, the people of Assam, strongly oppose it. The reason is, we don’t have a problem with any specific religion and we are against illegal immigrants spoiling our state (Assam). We don’t want any Bangladeshi of any religion. Outside Assam, some people think Assamese are against Hindus and different messages are spread, but the fact is that we are only opposing immigrants and through CAA they will get citizenship of our country. It is actually a problem going on since 1979. Then in 1985, the Assam Accord was signed, according to which no Bangladeshi was to be given citizenship.
What is the link between CAA, Bangladesh and Assam, and the welfare of the Assamese people?
Over the last 10 years, lakhs of Bangladeshis have illegally entered into Assam and are living there. In at least 14 districts in Assam, the ethnic Assamese are already a minority. It is just like Tripura, where ethnic locals are a minority. Our Assamese culture and tradition is different. CAA is a direct threat to our culture. When Congress was in power they supported Bangladeshi Muslims and now the BJP is supporting Bangladeshi Hindus, but no one is listening to our voice as we are originally from Assam.
{{/usCountry}}Over the last 10 years, lakhs of Bangladeshis have illegally entered into Assam and are living there. In at least 14 districts in Assam, the ethnic Assamese are already a minority. It is just like Tripura, where ethnic locals are a minority. Our Assamese culture and tradition is different. CAA is a direct threat to our culture. When Congress was in power they supported Bangladeshi Muslims and now the BJP is supporting Bangladeshi Hindus, but no one is listening to our voice as we are originally from Assam.
{{/usCountry}}What is your plan of action?
We will continue our protest in every possible way to support our Assamese families and friends back in Assam to ensure that our Assam remains safe & peaceful. The legal struggle has already started in the Supreme Court and we want that CAA be withdrawn by the BJP government immediately.