Students across universities and colleges in the northeast, specifically those in Assam, boycotted classes on Wednesday in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. The boycott coincided with a hearing by the Supreme Court of petitions for and against the law.
Among the institutions were Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, Cotton University, North Eastern Hill University, Tezpur University, Assam Women’s University, Assam Agricultural University, Nagaland University, Rajiv Gandhi University, and North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology.
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“The student fraternity across the northeast expressed their united opposition to the CAA on the day of hearing of the petitions against the law in the top court,” said Moon Talukdar, leader of a students’ union of the Guwahati-based Cotton University.
Most individuals and organisations that filed petitions against the CAA refrained from commenting on the Supreme Court’s observation.
“We welcome the court’s decision to separate the cases pertaining to Assam and Tripura. This is a logical decision, since the issues here are different from the rest of the country,” the Gauhati University unit of the All-Assam Students’ Union said in a statement.
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“It is unfortunate that the top court did not stay the controversial citizenship law, which has created unrest across the country,” said Debabrata Saikia, leader of the State Congress Legislature Party. He requested panchayat heads not to allow any construction under the government’s housing scheme or issue any kind of certificates until the case is disposed of by the Supreme Court.
Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, at the forefront of the BJP-led State government’s pro-CAA campaign, declined to comment. “Who am I to react to what the Supreme Court says or seeks,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting.