DHEMAJI, Nov 9 - Various student unions and other community organisations of the State assembled in a joint meeting at Dhemaji DRDA auditorium on Thursday and constituted a �Joint Action Committee� to mount pressure on the government to reject the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The meeting chaired by the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad�s (AJYCP) literary secretary (Central Committee) Debajit Das, discussed various negative sides of the Citizenship Amendment Bill and took a unanimous decision to move the government to reject the bill.
Explaining the meeting�s objective, the joint secretary of the All Tai Ahom Students� Union (ATASU), Manoj Gogoi said the bill would have an adverse effect on the demography of Assam, besides disrupting the language and cultures of the indigenous tribes. He appealed to people from all walks of life to sternly oppose the passage of the bill, which proposes granting citizenship among others to non-Muslim people of Bangladesh in India.
Many student union leaders in the meeting advocated that the proposed citizenship bill would heavily disrupt the implementation of �Assam Accord� which was signed to mark the end of six-year-long anti-foreigners movement in Assam during the 1980s. They urged the community leaders to have a firm stand and not to allow the Centre to proceed any further in this regard.
The meeting later constituted a �Joint Action Committee� including Manoj Gogoi as chief convener and Bishnu Sarma as member secretary, besides representatives of 60 organisations such as the AJYCP, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), ATASU, Mising People Justice Forum, Scheduled Caste Students� Union, Ahom Jatiya Gana Manch and other tribal community organisations.
The Joint Action Committee has pledged to carry forward their ongoing movement demanding immediate scrapping of the controversial Citizenship Bill for protection of the indigenous Assamese people.
It is also organising State-wide �Sankalpa Yatra� from Sadiya to Dhubri and Jonai to Kokrajhar on November 11 and also holding �Protirodh Samabesh (Mass rally)� at Dispur on November 16 next. It is also all set to conduct a massive �Gana Satyagrah� in every district of the State in protest against the Citizenship Bill.
It may be recalled that 46 protesting organisations led by the AJYCP and KMSS had called a 12-hour Assam bandh on October 23 last and staged road blockades against the bill. Political parties including the Congress and AIUDF had extended their support to the bandh.
