Cotton Univ students’ union bans BJP-RSS members on campus
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held discussions with representatives of students’ bodies and civil society groups of Assam on the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), sources said.
Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal is among those attending the meetings.
The groups, including the influential All Assam Students Union, are believed to have conveyed to the home minister their concerns on the bill and how the proposed legislation could affect the indigenous people of the Northeast, the sources said.
The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who come to India due to religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan even if they don’t possess proper documents.
The consultations on CAB were initiated by the home minister on Friday and Saturday, and Tuesday’s meetings were third such session on the subject.
Shah has convened the meetings in the wake of strong protests in the Northeast against the CAB. A large section of people and a few organisations in the Northeast have opposed the bill, saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.
Amidst a clamour for withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the students’ union and alumni association of Cotton University have decided to ban the entry of members of the ruling BJP, RSS and other organisations supporting the bill into the varsity. Cotton University Students Union general secretary Rahul Bordoloi in a joint press meet on Monday urged all the MLAs and MPs in Assam and other northeastern states to take a stand against the contentious bill. Along with the BJP-RSS, the students’ union and alumni association also banned entry of all organisations and leaders, who are supporting the CAB, into the institution, he said.
Bordoloi said the students’ union opposes the CAB and it will organise a protest against it on December 5.
On Sunday, Dibrugarh University Post Graduate Students’ Union had announced that it would not allow any member of the ruling BJP, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, into the varsity in protest against the controversial bill. Students of Cotton University also staged a protest march in the state capital on Sunday demanding withdrawal of the bill from Parliament.
Hundreds of students of the Dibrugarh University took out a protest march in the campus against the bill, saying that it will harm the Assamese community in future. Rahul Chetry, the general secretary of the students’ union, said that they have pledged not to allow entry of the chief minister into the varsity for his silence over the issue, and all other ministers.
Meanwhile, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the bill will be introduced and passed in Parliament by December 10. Sonowal, responding to questions on his stand on the CAB, assured that the interests of the indigenous peoples in Assam will be protected. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting. (PTI)