Protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) erupted across Assam on Tuesday, with demonstrators burning effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and copies of the law itself.
According to The Economic Times, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) set alight effigies of the prime minister and home minister in Lakhimpur. Similarly, the Congress conducted demonstrations, incinerating copies of the law in various districts.
In Guwahati, Congress workers, led by Leader of the Opposition in the Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia, staged a protest outside the party’s state headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, where they burned copies of the Act.
imultaneously, the CPI(M) held a demonstration against the Act in Guwahati and Rangia town in Kamrup district, while students from different colleges organized protests outside their institutions in the city.
In Sivasagar district, activists from Raijor Dal, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, and the Chatra Mukti Parishad, along with MLA Akhil Gogoi, protested against the law and raised slogans against the Centre.
Reports of burning copies of the CAA by the Congress and AJYCP also surfaced from Barpeta and Nalbari districts, respectively.
Amidst the unrest, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made a bold statement, declaring that he would resign if even one person, who has not applied for the National Register of Citizens (NRC), obtains Indian citizenship.
“I will be the first to resign if one person who has not applied for NRC gets citizenship,” asserted CM Sarma.
The chief minister’s remark comes amid widespread protests across the state, with opposition parties condemning the BJP government at the Centre for implementing the controversial CAA. The legislation aims to grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Sarma emphasized that the CAA is not a new law and urged people to apply through the designated portal, emphasizing that protesting on the streets serves no purpose.
“The data on the portal will speak now, and it will become clear whether the claims of those opposing the Act stand factually correct or not,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Assam Police issued notices to opposition parties after they called for a major protest over the CAA’s implementation. The notices “ordered” the parties to withdraw the hartal and cooperate in maintaining peace in the state, warning of “legal action” if they fail to comply.
The 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA), has called for a statewide strike to protest against the implementation of the CAA. Security has been heightened with additional police deployment, all police stations on alert, intensified patrolling, and check-posts set up on major thoroughfares across the state, including Guwahati, which witnessed violent protests over the issue in December 2019.