The AASU condemned the police repression
Guwahati:
Prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, the police turned to the lathi charge against All Assam Students Union (AASU) activists who held a rally in Tezpur on Friday to protest against the central government’s controversial citizenship law. .
Police detained several AASU activists on Friday in different districts of Assam during demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which saw protesters hold torchlight rallies across the state.
The crackdown turned violent in Tezpur when thousands of AASU activists held a demonstration in the city against the law that promises citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from three neighboring countries if they arrive before 2015.
Widely viewed as discriminatory, the law sparked a wave of protests across the country in 2019 and riots in Delhi. It has faced even more resistance in the northeast, where many fear it will legalize the illegal settlers who came from Bangladesh.
The AASU condemned the police crackdown and announced a closure in the Sonitpur district on Saturday to protest the police action.
The influential student body had called for a three-day protest in Assam against the CAA ahead of visits by Prime Minister Modi and Union Interior Minister Amit Shah to Assam this weekend.
On Friday, the police blocked a mass torchlight rally pulled back by AASU activists midway. The group’s leaders, including its senior adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya and President Dipanka Nath, then had a heated discussion with the police.
“The government has ordered the police to stop our peaceful and democratic demonstration by torchlight. This BJP government is trying to take away our democratic right to protest using force,” said Nath.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Interior Minister Amit Shah will be in Assam shortly, and we warn the Center that we will intensify our agitation against the draconian CAA. There is no rest until the CAA is repealed by the government,” he added.
Mr. Bhattacharya criticized the Assamian government for blocking the “demonstration of the democratic and peaceful torch”.
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