GUWAHATI, Dec 8: Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today turned violent despite AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya’s assurance that their protest will be democratic and that the students’ body will not take law into their hands at any point in time while opposing the legislation.
The AASU chief adviser had on Saturday announced that they will protest democratically against the citizenship bill and that at no point in time will they resort to any violence.
His assurance, however, fizzled into thin air as a group of AASU activists led by several senior leaders of the Dibrugarh AASU unit barged into the AGP office in the eastern Assam town and started vandalizing office property.
The AASU activists shouted slogans against AGP leaders, including party president Atul Bora, for extending their support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and even threatened AGP activists and asked them to quit the party.
“I had seen AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya assuring people of Assam that they will not resort to any violence and the protests will be democratic. Then why did they vandalize our office in Dibrugarh?” an AGP activist told News Live in Guwahati.
“Everyone has the right to protest but that doesn’t mean that they will take up law into their hands!” he added.
WATCH VIDEO:
Meanwhile, protests were also held outside the residences of Union minister Rameswar Teli in Duliajan and AGP president Atul Bora in Golaghat.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that proposes to grant Indian citizenship to six minority communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan even if they do not possess proper documents will be tabled by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha tomorrow.
Once passed by the lower house of Parliament, it will be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Dec 11 (Wednesday).
