GUWAHATI: Protests broke out in several places in Assam, with agitators stripping themselves in public in Tinsukia, over Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comment that if the Citizenship Bill is not passed “we will be surrendering to Jinnah’s policy”.
The minister on Sunday had also clarified that he was not pointing to any community. However, protesting organisations such as the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) alleged that Sarma through his comments was trying to polarise the electorate ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014.
The AASU and KMSS leadership have termed Sarma’s comments as an attempt to polarise the Assamese society ahead of the elections. Protesters, led by organisations, observed ‘Black Day’ and carried black flags and burnt replicas of the bill across the state.
In New Delhi, a group staged a nude protest in front of Parliament Complex. Another group staged a nude protest in Assam’s Tinsukia town as well against the minister’s remarks. They also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The Left Democratic Mancha, a common platform of Left and democratic parties, organised a protest meeting. They took out a procession to Kamrup Metropolitan Deputy Commissioner’s office here. Several indigenous organisations in the state have been opposing the bill as they believe it would harm their cultural identity.
AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi told PTI, “These are baseless and communal statement. He is showing fear of Muslims to get Hindu votes, but people are not fools.” Despite being a public representative, the minister does not know how to speak to the people, the AASU leader alleged.
KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi said, “The makers of India and common people did not take side of Jinnah, but supported a secular country. Talking about Jinnah at this time is deliberately done to polarise the society before the polls. By doing so, he is trying to spread the communal agenda of RSS.”
A total of 70 groups led by KMSS will protest in front of different offices of Oil India Limited and ONGC, Gogoi said. In addition they would also stop oil, petroleum products, coal, forest products and limestone from being transported outside the state, he said.
“We all know that Himanta Biswa Sarma is a politician who changes party at the time of his crisis,” he added. He is in BJP now and playing to the tune of RSS to save himself from Louis Berger and Sarada chit fund scams. (PTI)
