GUWAHATI, Dec 9 - Students led from the front as the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill gained momentum on a day the controversial Bill was tabled for passage in the Lok Sabha.
Members of the AJYCP staged protests at the entrance to the Janata Bhawan for around two hours. The protesters waved black flags and shouted anti-CAB slogans. The youth body, meanwhile, threatened to move the Supreme Court against the Bill.
Unidentified persons last night wrote �No CAB� slogans on the newly painted roadside walls in different parts of the city.
This evening, students of Gauhati University carried out a torchlight rally � named �Akou Saraighatoloi� � from the university premises. Before the rally, a meeting was held in front of the main gate of the institution, in which thousands of protesters including students, teachers, research scholars and employees of the university took part. Students from other educational institutions also attended the meet.
Addressing the gathering, educationists Udayaditya Bharali, Akhil Ranjan Dutta, Bhaskar Bora, poet Pranab Barman, actor Ravi Sarma and others urged the students to be vocal and speak in the interests of the Assamese language and culture. They also urged them to do an in-depth study on the issue so that the movement continues in the right direction.
During the protest, a number of students wrote anti-CAB slogans with their own blood and displayed them on the protest ground. A student also tonsured his head during the protest. Members of right-leaning student organisations also took part in the meet.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi joined a sit-in-demonstration organised by a section of journalists in front of the Guwahati Press Club. Senior journalists Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, Adip Phukan, Haidar Hussain, etc., also took part in it.
At Cotton University, a section of students burnt copies of the controversial legislation. Teachers and employees of Assam Jatiya Bidyalay also carried out a silent protest.
Inmates of the Mother Old Age Home here also staged a sit-in demonstration. Members of the Youth Congress took out a torchlight rally in the city.
Members of Asom Bir Sena also registered their protest against the Bill today by staging a silent candlelight sit-in at Chachal here. In a statement, condemning the government for its efforts to get the Bill passed in Parliament, it said such actions were tantamount to sheer betrayal of the sacrifices made by the 855 martyrs of the Assam Agitation.
