Anti-CAB protests singe NE during PM visit

From Our Special Correspondent
 GUWAHATI: The Northeast singed amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2016 on a day Prime Minister, Narendra Modi dedicated a slew of development projects to three states of the region which he claimed was in sync with Centre’s policy of inclusive development for a “New India”.
Under the umbrella of North East Students Organisation (NESO), activists of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) staged anti-CAB rallies in Itanagar during Modi’s visit to the Arunachal capital on Saturday morning while members of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) here waved black flags near Swahid Nyas Bhawan in the Uzan Bazar area here as Modi left the city for Arunachal Pradesh while a few Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists staged a nude protest in front of Janata Bhawan, the Assam secretariat .
On Friday, AASU members shouted slogans against the bill and waved black flags at the prime minister while his convoy made its way towards Raj Bhavan from the LGBI Airport amid tight police vigil and security arrangements in the city and its periphery.
Speaking to The Shillong Times from Itanagar on Saturday, AAPSU general secretary, Tobom Dai said, “Under NESO, AAPSU along with higher education students staged protests against the bill and the prime minister’s visit. The people of Arunachal Pradesh in particular and North East in general should not be treated as guinea pigs by the central leaders for experimentation.”
“For the sake of vote-bank politics we should not be made sacrificial goats, the BJP leaders at the Centre must remember that there is an India beyond Kolkata also,” Dai, who also addressed protesting students at Rajiv Gandhi University and North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology in Itanagar, said.The AAPSU leader called for immediate repeal of the contentious bill and warned the central government against imposing it on the Northeast. “Such bulldozing would foment more trouble in the Northeastern region and AAPSU and NESO would not remain silent,” Dai said.According to reports, the Centre is likely to table the Bill in Rajya Sabha next week. The Budget session of Parliament ends on February 13 even as a section of Opposition parties in Delhi, including Congress, have assured organisations such as AASU, Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill (FACAAB) to oppose the contentious legislation in the House.
In Upper Assam, the Tai Ahom Yuva Parishad clamped a 12-hour Assam bandh in protest against the prime minister’s visit. Effigies of the prime minister and tyres were burnt by protesters across various locations in the state. Six KMSS activists were taken into police custody on Saturday when they stripped naked in front of Janata Bhawan. The activists had arrived in cars and stripped naked before holding the protests. The Tai Ahom Yuba Parishad’s 12-hour bandh to protest against the prime minister’s visit and its impact was felt in the upper Assam districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur and Jorhat with vehicles remaining off the road and shops and business establishments closed. The bandh was supported by the KMSS along with 70 other organisations jointly protesting against the bill.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) claimed that police resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse its activists who had assembled with black flags and black balloons at the Amingaon-Hajo Road, about 10 km from Modi’s rally at Changsari. Modi was shown black flags in at least two places here on Saturday for the second consecutive day while on his way to the airport from the Raj Bhawan here.
Protesters, belonging to the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), showed black flags to Modi at Machkhowa area. Minutes later, a group of students of the Gauhati University too waved black flags at Modi in the Jalukbari area. Both the groups were detained as soon as they lodged their protest, police said. Effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh , Manipur CM N. Biren were burnt in the state by the people protesting against Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019 which the Lok Sabha passed on January 8 this year and waiting to be passed in Rajya Sabha. On Saturday, the state was in a state of total shutdown as people of the state and every section of the society took out mass protest against the Bill.
‘No to CAB, Yes to Survival of North East’ was the point of protest as the people of the state feel threatened by the bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Business establishment in the state remained shut as part of the protest. Khwairambandh Bazar of the state, where the main business transaction is carried, too remained closed. Shops and other sectors of business were hit by the protest under the leadership of Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill. Due to second Saturday, schools and colleges were closed, if not the protest would have been more powerful. In several areas, both urban and rural women organisations carried out “sit in protest” against the contentious bill. Different placards were used against the bill.