Guwahati: A large number of women came out across the state on Saturday to join the ongoing protest against contentious Citizenship Act in Assam. The All Assam Students Union (Aasu) which is spearheading the anti-CAA movement, on Saturday had called for a sit-in-strike and protest by women all over the state.
The central sit-in-strike was held at Latasil field in Guwahati where women from all walks of life — including writers, social-activists, as well as homemakers, joined the protest against the amended Citizenship Act in a bid to protect to what they called — ‘jati, mati and bheti’ (community, land, and base) of the state.
A similar protest was organised all over the state as women came out in large numbers at Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, and Sibsagar, to join the protest and shouted slogans — “Jai Aai Axom” and “Scrap CAA”. They also demanded justice for the five youths who were killed during police firing in the ongoing anti- CAA movement. In Assam, the movement is being led by many film actresses — such as Prastuti Parashar, and Barsha Rani Bishaya.
While addressing the all women protest at Latasil field, Aasu chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya came down heavily on Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while describing his stand both as misleading and ridiculous.
Referring to Mr Sonowal’s press conference on Friday, he said that Mr Sonowal openly accepted the presence of illegal Bangladeshis in Assam and also agreed to rehabilitate them in the state. “The Aasu would continue its democratic and disciplined agitation against the CAA but at the same time warn the Chief Minister and other leaders of the ruling dispensation not to mislead the people of Assam on issues that involves the question of our existence.”
The Aasu leader while referring to CM’s remark that the number of Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam was negligible, said, “If the number was so tiny, then Chief Minister should talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah and arrange rehabilitation of these Hindu Bangladeshis in Gujarat.”
He said, “In 2004, the then union minister of state for home himself had said in Parliament that there were 1.2 crore illegal Bangladeshis in the country and 50 lakh of them were in Assam. It’s a government data and the CM cannot ignore it.”
