Call for mass protests in Assam as CAA strikes a nerve again

Bamboo barricades have been placed on roadsides across Guwahati city in anticipation of protests, and on Monday evening, security was beefed up at the Legislative Assembly and the Janata Bhawan, with heavy barricading and security deployment in their vicinity.

Sporadic protests broke out in some parts of the state on Monday night itself, including in front of Cotton University in Guwahati, and copies of the CAA were burned by AASU and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad activists.

Terming it a “black day” for Assam, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the president of the Asom Jatiya Parishad – a party born out of the 2019 anti-CAA protests – called for protests across the state. On behalf of the 15-party United Opposition Forum, Assam, called for a ‘sabartmak hartal’ in the state on March 12.

“Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and (current) Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have grovelled before Delhi, and like clockwork, they have given their support to this law. This work of theirs has been seen by the people of Assam as a crime against the community and they will be remembered as villains by the community,” said Lurinjyoti, who is also a former president of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

Akhil Gogoi, an MLA and president of Raijor Dol – another party born out of 2019 protests – called the notification of the rules “an attack by Delhi against Assam”.

“This is a war against the people of Assam, just like when the Mughals had attacked Assam and tried to invade. Even after decades of Assamese people’s opposition, they are moving to settle foreigners here. I appeal to all Assamese people to set aside all other considerations and take to the streets in a peaceful, non-violent, democratic protest,” he said.

The discontent against the CAA in Assam predates its enactment into law. The state had seen protests against the then Citizenship (Amendment) Bill from early 2019, before the last Lok Sabha election. When protests flared up in different parts of the country in December 2019, with the enactment of the CAA, Assam saw some of the most heated protests, in which five people were killed.

While in many other parts of the country, the opposition to the CAA has stemmed from it being seen as discriminatory and unconstitutional because only non-Muslim refugees get their citizenship process fast-tracked under it, the protesters in Assam are against the granting of citizenship to any foreigner who entered Assam after March 24, 1971, regardless of religion.

This opposition in Assam – a state that shares a 263-kilometre international border with Bangladesh and whose history, politics and demography is shaped by waves of migration – has a long and fraught background.

Those who oppose the CAA say that it violates the provisions of the 1985 Assam Accord, which had been arrived at between the Rajiv Gandhi government and the All Assam Students’ Union, which had led a six-year agitation against “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh in Assam.

The Assam Accord essentially provides for the detection of foreigners who arrived in the state after March 24, 1971 as illegal immigrants and the drawing up of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state was also done with this cut-off date. However, with the CAA, except for Muslims, the cut-off date will essentially be extended till 2014.

With this notification coming just before Lok Sabha elections, Opposition parties in the state are looking to mobilise objections to the CAA against the BJP and its allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).

Senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia called the Act and the notification of the rules a “betrayal” for the people of Assam. “I hope that the people will give a befitting response to the Assam BJP and the Narendra Modi government… Since the core of the Assam Accord and the 1971 cut-off has been nullified, the kind of agitation that is merited against the BJP and AGP government will take place. The Congress will be with the people,” he said.

The BJP in the state is shrugging off calls for protests. “Individuals and organisations who had their objections have already approached the Supreme Court and the whole matter is with the court now. We will go by what judgment the Supreme Court gives on the matter… We have not thought of whether this will have electoral repercussions in the state. Our conscious citizens are minutely observing the matter and they know that the matter is with the court now,” said Assam BJP spokesperson Manoj Baruah.