Anti-CAA protests in Assam may get boost from farm laws' withdrawal

A file photo of women holding placards as they march during a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), in Guwahati. Credit: PTI File Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Friday to repeal three farms laws owing to long protest seems to have provided a push to the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) agitation in Assam, which had turned violent in December 2019.

Organisations opposed to the CAA, including the influential All Assam Students' Union (AASU), have decided to take to the streets again till the Act is repealed by the Centre in the way it bowed before the protests against the new farm laws.

"The agitation against the CAA, although could not be taken forward due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will continue. We must force the Centre to repeal the CAA the way farmers succeeded in case of the farm laws. The CAA is not only against the Constitution but also is a serious threat to identity of indigenous communities in Assam and rest of the Northeast," AASU adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharjya told reporters in Guwahati.

AASU had spearheaded the anti-CAA agitation, which turned violent on December 12, 2019 in Guwahati and parts of Assam after it was passed by the Centre. Five protesters died in a subsequent police firing incident.

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Many organisations like AASU say the the CAA would pose a threat to Assamese identity as it seeks to offer citizenship to large number Hindu and other non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Co-ordination Committee Against Citizenship Amendment Act announced that it would organise a fresh protest in Guwahati on December 12, to mark the two years of the anti-CAA agitation.

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, led by Akhil Gogoi, on Saturday appealed to all organisations to launch a joint movement again to force the Centre to repeal the CAA.

Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a regional party which came into being out of the anti-CAA agitation, said farmers' successful protest against the farms laws would give a push to the anti-CAA agitation, which should also continue till the Act is repealed. AJP contested the Assembly elections in Assam in March-April this year with the CAA as its main poll plank but failed to win a single seat.

The ruling BJP in Assam claims people of the state voted in favour of CAA and thus they elected the saffron party and its allies for the second consecutive term despite the protests.

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