GUWAHATI: Life came to a grinding halt in Assam and most other parts of the region in view of the 11-hour bandh called by North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 that was passed by Lok Sabha later on Tuesday.
The bandh supported by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and several other organisations in Assam brought life to complete halt all over Brahmaputra Valley in Assam including the capital city of Guwahati where street remained deserted since morning while all government and non-government establishments, financial institution were rendered non-functional.
The bandh supporters ransacked the BJP office in Dibrugarh and Golaghat towns in eastern Assam while there were clashes with police and CRPF personnel and bandh enforcers in many parts of Assam. Police and CRPF resorted to blank firing to control rampaging bandh enforcers in Dibrugarh.
Bandh supporters damaged several vehicles all over the state including some vehicle on Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) duty in Sivasagar district.
The top leaders of the BJP in Assam held an emergency meeting to deal with the situation arising out of the state in view of mass protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.
Senior Assam BJP leader and a minister in Sarbananda Sonowal-headed government, Himanta Bishwa Sharma termed the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha a historic one and stated that the step by the BJP-led government in the Centre would save at least 17 Assembly Constituencies in Assam from going to the clutch of Badruddin Ajmal and his party.
Referring to ransacking and burning of BJP offices in Golaghat and Dibrugarh, Sharma said that the BJP was ready to face ‘such punishment’ for facilitating measures that would safeguard the interests of indigenous people of Assam in future.
Meanwhile, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) that spearheaded the protest against Citizenship Bill, termed the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha as ‘murder of democracy’ by the BJP-led government in the Centre.