GUWAHATI, June 2 - The All Assam Students Union (AASU) and its 28 ally organizations representing various ethnic communities of the State today announced a series of agitational programmes demanding scrapping of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the related notification and order of 2015, besides the Passport (Amendment) Rules, 2015.
The agitation will begin with a central mass Satyagraha at Latasil playground in the city on June 29. �There will be Satyagrahas and protests in every district and the schedules will be fixed by the district units in consultation with the central committee,� the AASU said in a statement.
Making it clear that the stir would be intense and prolonged, the AASU said that the protests would continue till the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is scrapped. �The Bill jeopardizes the existence of the Assamese people in their homeland. Both stir and dialogue will continue. We will sit for talks when the government invites us. But the stir will be on till our demands are met,� it added.
The AASU and its ally organizations said that their other demands like implementation of the Assam Accord in its letter and spirit, providing constitutional safeguard to the indigenous people, sealing of the porous Indo-Bangla border on a war footing, protection of tribal belts and blocks, eviction of illegal migrants from forestland and sattra land, etc., must also be honoured.
On the issue of the ongoing update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the AASU said that it would continue to assist the employees and officials engaged in the exercise. �With less than a month remaining for the publication of the final draft of the NRC, the exercise assumes utmost importance. An authenticated NRC will determine the genuine Indian citizens as against the illegal migrants. We will continue to provide moral support to those physically engaged in the updating work,� it said.
