CAB to be tabled in LS today: Security beefed up in Assam as protests pick up
GUWAHATI: Protests over the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which is expected to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, have intensified in Assam, prompting chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to call for peace.
The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there. It proposes to make people from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Parsi faiths who entered India till December 31, 2014, eligible for citizenship.
On Monday afternoon, the government will introduce the bill to amend the six-decade-old Citizenship Act, and later in the day, it will be taken up for discussion and passage, according to the Lok Sabha’s list of business for Monday.students’ organisations, civil society groups and opposition parties in Assam have been protesting against the legislation, saying it would lead to an influx of religious minorities from Bangladesh and hurt the interests of indigenous communities.
A large section opposing the bill also says it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.
The influential North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), which comprises student bodies from seven states in the region, has called an 11-hour bandh beginning 5am on December 10.
In Assam, sit-in protests, rallies and marches have been held over the past week, and ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led ruling coalition in Assam, which includes the Asom Gana Parishad, have been shown black flags.
The All Assam Students Union (AASU), the state’s biggest student body, has also announced a series of protests opposing the legislation. “Assam is not the dustbin for illegal immigrants. The BJP at the Centre is bent on bringing the legislation based on its numbers in Parliament. We will not accept it and continue protests,” AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said on Saturday.
The Congress and the All India United Democratic Front, the two main opposition parties in the state, too, have been staging protests. On Sunday, chief minister Sonowal urged protesters to desist from such activities and focus on development instead.