GUWAHATI, Dec 24 - Voicing its opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the State unit of North Eastern Small Scale Industries Association (NESSIA) has said that although as an industrial association its main focus should be on industrial activities and related development in the State, yet it could not sit back and tolerate the very narrative of the Act which is going to wipe out the indigenous people of Assam and the North East along with their languages and cultures gradually and make them refugees in their own homeland.
�NESSIA, therefore, opposes CAA and extends its wholehearted support to the spontaneous people�s movement being witnessed in the State. It has been a matter of deep concern that all political parties of India have failed to recognise the existence of the north-eastern states beyond West Bengal. They are always interested in exploiting the rich natural resources of the region in the name of false development and to do so, they follow the same old method of divide and rule. But this will not work now. Surprisingly, all are obsessed with the appeasement tactics to suit their own goals in the name of democracy and development,� it said.
Reacting to the assurances from the governments in Delhi and Dispur which keep telling that the CAA would not harm Assam and that people were being misled, the NESSIA questioned whether all the people of Assam and the North East were fools and uneducated not to understand the implications of the black Act � except those very lucky ones who have promulgated the Act.
NESSIA said it failed to understand why the so-called intelligent initiators of the Act do not have the courage to make these people of the states understand the various misleading points. �We also fail to understand what type of development the governments in Delhi and Dispur are talking about and for whom, when the indigenous people will no longer be there to enjoy the benefits,� it added.
NESSIA�s State president Sailen Baruah and secretary Kumud Medhi appealed to all sections of people irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language and culture living in Assam to come out spontaneously to extend support to the anti-CAA mass movement because it is not the fight for the Assamese alone but a fight for Assam.
�We also advise all national political parties to take away the illegal immigrants to their states according to choices of their religions and make Assam free from that burden and let us live in peace and harmony towards progress,� it said.
NESSIA, while opposing the CAA, also appealed to the Government of India to scrap the Act and implement ILP in Assam and all clauses of the Assam Accord in true spirit.
�At this difficult time of existence of the Assamese community and society we stand by the people of Assam in opposing the CAA and supporting the leadership of AASU in their legal battle as well as mass movement. We shall not compromise on our self pride,� it said.
