Dibrugarh: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), along with 30 other organizations, launched a 12-hour hunger strike at the old ASTC bus stand in Dibrugarh’s Thana Chariali to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This action comes as Lok Sabha elections loom on the horizon.
The AASU joins a growing chorus of dissent against the CAA, which the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has hinted will be implemented before the polls.
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Leading the protest, AASU general secretary Shankarjyoti Baruah declared Assam’s resolute opposition to the CAA. He accused the BJP of betraying its promises to protect the state’s indigenous communities (“jati, mati, bheti”) and prioritizing vote bank politics over Assamese interests.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have betrayed the people of Assam,” Baruah asserted.
“We will not forget or forgive this. If they impose the CAA, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be our answer to the BJP,” he added.
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Baruah pointed out the threat the CAA poses to Assamese identity and the possibility of Assamese people becoming a minority in their own state.
He condemned the BJP government’s support for the act, calling it a violation of Assam’s secular fabric, the Constitution, and the Assam Accord.
The CAA remains a contentious issue in Assam, with many opposing its provisions offering citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from neighboring countries who arrived before 2014.