New Delhi: A group of people from the Northeastern states gathered at the Jantar Mantar here on Wednesday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The protesters slammed the government over the bill and raised slogans like: “We oppose CAB” and “We need Justice”.
They carried banners like “Assam is not a dumping ground for foreigners,”, “Save Tripura”, “Tripura rejects CAB and “Identity at stake”.
The citizenship bill is a cause of worry for the people of North East, so students from the region who are studying here have come together to protest against it, said Abinash Gogoi, vice-president of Assam unit of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India.
“BJP is trying to muzzle the sentiments of the northeast people just because they have the numbers in Rajya Sabha as well as Lok Sabha, but we will not allow the implementation of such bill in Assam or anywhere in the North East,” said Gogoi.
“If this bill is implemented, people from Bangladesh will come to our states just like how it happened in Tripura and states like Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will also meet the same fate. We will become a minority in our own state,” said Yompe Chisi, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh and is pursing graduation at Delhi University.
Namrata, a student of Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College, termed the bill as unconstitutional and said it not only violates the secular ethos but also the Assam Accord of 1985.
“All our tradition, culture and even our language will be in danger if people from Bangladesh will be allowed. Assam and Tripura will be affected the most. We will face identity crisis in our own country. The situation in Assam today is similar to that of Kashmir,” she said. (PTI)
