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Assam shuts down against Citizenship Bill, protesters disrupt road, rail traffic
Assam’s indigenous groups oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as they feel it will marginalize them by encouraging more migrations of Hindus from Bangladesh.
Normal life across most parts of Assam was affected on Tuesday due to a 12-hour shutdown from 5 am called by 46 indigenous groups against the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Hundreds of protesters belonging to these groups took to the streets since early morning and burnt tyres on roads, prevented the movement of vehicles and disrupted trains at some places. Essential services were kept outside its purview.
“The spontaneous response to the shutdown despite government threats of crackdown shows mass opposition of the bill in Assam. I want to thank everyone for their support,” farmers rights activist Akhil Gogoi of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), one of the groups that had called the shutdown, said.
The bill proposes to grant citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Assam’s indigenous groups, 46 of whom are supporting the shutdown, oppose the bill as they feel it will marginalise them by encouraging more migrations of Hindus from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Tuesday’s shutdown coincided with a joint parliamentary committee’s (JPC’s) meeting over the bill ahead of its expected tabling during Parliament’s winter session in December.
Opposing the shutdown, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling coalition in the state had ordered all government employees to attend offices and threatened traders and business establishments of revoking their licenses if they downed shutters.
But despite assurances of safety most business establishments and transport operators across the state chose to shut down their shops and keep vehicles off the roads. Most offices also reported low attendance.
“The shutdown was by and large peaceful apart from incidents of stone pelting at vehicles reported from few areas. We had arrested around 700 protesters across the state in order to maintain law and order,” director general of police Kuladhar Saikia said.
While the effect of the shutdown was felt in 30 of the 33 districts of the state, it was seen in three districts in Bengali-speaking majority Barak Valley—Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.
Unlike other parts of the state, most organisations in Barak Valley support the bill as they feel it is needed to give citizenship to people who migrated to India due to Partition and religious persecution in Bangladesh.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which is part of the ruling coalition, also carried out a separate rally in Guwahati on Tuesday expressing opposition to the controversial bill.
“The bill threatens to violate the Assam Accord of 1985, which sought to protect rights of indigenous Assamese. If the Centre is serious about upholding provisions of the accord, it should throw the Bill to the dustbin,” AGP president Atul Bora, who is also the agriculture minister, said.
Clause 6 of the Assam Accord provides that constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of Assamese people. Indigenous groups feel the bill will violate this clause.
Tuesday’s shutdown also had the support of opposition Congress as well as the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
The BJP, which supports the bill, has, however, said the shutdown was politically motivated, against the state and its people and misleading.
“Surprisingly, the shutdown received maximum support in minority-dominated areas. Those same people who failed to close shops during the Assam Agitation (against illegal immigrants) are today supporting the shutdown,” BJP state unit chief Ranjit Dass said while speaking to journalists.
