All Assam Students' Union to protest against CAA while PM Modi visits poll-bound state

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam on January 23, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has decided to launch a state-wide protest on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Ex-BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah will also make his second visit to the poll-bound state within a month's time, on January 24. AASU has said that it has planned a three-day protest and it will burn copies of the citizenship law, and hold torch rallies during their visit.

AASU President Dipanka Kumar Nath announced, "On January 22, all the district units of AASU will hold a torchlight rally. On January 23, we will wear black badges ahead of PM Modi's first visit to the state this year. During the visit of the Union Home Minister on January 24, we will hoist black flags and burn copies of CAA across the state."  "The BJP-led government had promised to seal the porous Indo-Bangladesh border. However, that has not materialized. The government has failed to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord," he added.

The NRC exercise and the CAA have been opposed in Assam and AASU alleges that the Central government has violated the Clause 6 of Assam Accord - which guarantees constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. 

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Assam Assembly Elections 

In December, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam has kickstarted its election process for the upcoming Assembly polls with the formation of a 16-member State Election Committee - including CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Himanta Biswa Sarma and state chief Ranjeet Kumar Das. Home Minister Amit Shah sounded the poll bugle addressing state's two biggest problems were infiltration and floods. Asserting that only BJP government can stop infiltration, he added that infiltration affects our culture, arts, and snatches away opportunities from our youth.

The election to the 126-member Assam assembly is likely to be held in March-April 2021 where BJP eyes to retain the state. Assam witnessed massive protests against the CAA-NRC-NPR, as  Assamese people fear a massive inrush of migrants which will threaten their indigenous culture - violating the Assam accords. The BJP is yet to convince the state subjects of the merits of CAA, after the disastrous NRC drive which resulted in the exclusion of 19 lakh citizens.

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BJP and its stance on CAA

On December 6, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is likely to be implemented from January next year. Vijayvargiya added that the Centre is keen to grant citizenship to the large refugee population in the state. He also accused the ruling Trinamool Congress government of not being sympathetic to the cause of the refugees.

However, on December 20, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the rules of CAA are yet to be framed and the law will be acted upon after COVID vaccine inoculation is done. "Rules of CAA are yet to be framed. Due to Coronavirus, such a massive drive cannot be undertaken and hence after inoculation, we will think about it," said Shah. When asked about his 'understand the chronology' remark, Shah said, "Let the first part of the chronology be fulfilled".

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. The Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill on December 11, 2019, and President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12.

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