The anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Assam is set to be relaunched with a touch of the agitation against “illegal migrants” 40 years ago.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a year-old regional party with its roots in the anti-CAA protests, has announced a 10-day agitation coinciding with the Swahid Diwas, or the Martyrs’ Day, on December 10.
The day is marked in honour of Khargeswar Talukdar, the first of 855 people who were killed during the anti-foreigner Assam Agitation from 1979-85.
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The agitation will be organised centrally at Chhaygaon, west of Guwahati.
“We will organise it on a larger scale on the days the citizenship Bill was tabled and passed in Parliament. We will also stage the satyagraha on the days five people were killed in police firing during the anti-CAA protests in December 2019,” AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said.
He said the relevance of the CAA was re-established after the repeal of the farm laws. “The farmers showed what we can achieve by agitating and made sacrifices. They did not compromise. We have taken inspiration from them,” he added.
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Mr. Gogoi said unlike the spontaneous stir in 2019, the AJP and other groups would “educate the common people” against the CAA this time for a more sustained agitation.
“We have seen the consequences of the imposition of the CAA. We are against this kind of communal move. The demography of Assam has already changed due to the influx of foreigners, and we cannot allow the State to be a dumping ground anymore,” he said.
Deben Tamuli, chief coordinator of the Coordination Committee Against CAA — an umbrella committee of various organisations, including the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Liberal Democratic Party — also said that a rally is being planned on December 12.