Anti-CAA Protests Held Across Northeast After a Gap of 2 Years

Student organisations across the North-east said that protests will continue until the contentious act is repealed.

After a gap of almost two years, student organisations undertook protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across northeast India on Wednesday, 17 August.

While the North East Students' Organisation (NESO) conducted protests across the region, the police did not permit the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to take to the streets to demand the repeal of the act, NDTV reported.

Members of the Khasi Students' Union (KSU), which forms a part of the NESO, also staged demonstrations in Meghalaya's Shillong, while the Garo Students' Union protested in Tura.

"Our demand is that the government implement the Inner Line Permit in the entire northeast. We also demand the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the draconian AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act)," NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Vehement protests in Assam had taken place against the CAA in 2019, and continued until the COVID-19 lockdown was declared in March 2020.

'Protests Will Continue Until theAct is Repealed'

NESO adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjee said that protests against the CAA had been suspended due to the pandemic, but now the group had decided to take up the issue again to prevent the implementation of the contentious act.

"The anger against this unjust law has been burning in the hearts of the Assamese people and our protests against it will continue till it is repealed," he said.

The CAA, which was passed in Parliament in December 2019, aims to grant citizenship to illegal migrants from the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhists, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. However, the act makes no mention of Muslims.

Protests against the CAA come on a day the Home Ministry opposed Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's statement that Rohingya Muslims will be shifted to flats in Delhi made for economically weaker sections (EWS).

(With inputs from NDTV and PTI.)