Guwahati : In a closed-door meeting held in a hotel in Guwahati on Wednesday, the opposition parties of Assam resolved to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with CAA as the core issue. The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of Birudhi Oikyo Mancha Axom and Assam Pradesh Congress president Bhupen Bora.  

With the Center making its intentions clear to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act ahead of the Model Code of Conduct before the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the opposition parties in Assam have geared up to oppose it. In a meeting held in Guwahati, which was attended by 15 political parties including the Congress, Asom Jatiya Parishad, Aam Aadmi Party, Raijor Dal, Jatiya Parishad Asom, TMC, CPI-M etc resolved to fight the upcoming elections on the issue of CAA. The opposition parties think that the people of Assam are not happy with the CAA and the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be the best way for them to lodge their protest, said a source in the opposition. 

Drawing a strategy to oppose the implementation of CAA, if moved by the Center, the opposition parties decided to call for a total shutdown in Assam, a day after the implementation. Similarly, on the following day, that is on the second day after implementation, they decided to go and round up the Assam Secretariat in Dispur, which houses the Chief Minister's Office along with the offices of other ministers and top bureaucrats. 

Speaking to the media, APCC president and chairman of the opposition forum, Bhupen Bora said that the people of Assam don't want the CAA and that's why the opposition parties have come together to fight against it. “People of Assam are against CAA. The opposition parties in Assam united against CAA and in the continuity of the unity, we will fight against it,” Bora said. 

He also added that implementing CAA will be the BJP's last nail in its coffin. Recalling the CAA movement of 2019, where five people lost their lives in Assam, Bora said that the people of Assam have not forgotten those days and have neither forgiven the BJP for it.