Even as thousands of people took part in a rally organised by the North East Students Organisation (NESO) here on Thursday demanding the expulsion of undocumented migrants from the northeast and protection of northeast Indians in others parts of the country, a bandh called by it in support of the two demands affected life in the region, except in Tripura. Leaders of all constituent student bodies in the region joined those of the AASU (All-Assam Students’ Union) and youth organisations, representing 26 ethnic communities, at the rally held on Latasil playground. The AASU is a constituent of the NESO.
The leaders announced that the NESO would intensify its agitation if the State governments and the Centre failed to take effective steps to identify and expel undocumented migrants and seal the India-Bangladesh border immediately. Later, the participants took out a procession through the main thoroughfares of the city.
AASU adviser and NESO chairman Samujjal Bhattacharyya told the rallyists it was organised to highlight five demands: time-bound implementation of the Assam Accord; updating of the National Register of Citizens before the next Lok Sabha elections; immediate sealing of the India-Bangladesh border; no rehabilitation of undocumented migrants post 1971 in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District areas or elsewhere in the State; and constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people of the region. NESO leaders from Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura also spoke.
