A mass protest rally was carried out at Mangaldai, the district headquarters in Darrang, against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 on Sunday.
The rally was jointly organized by the Darrang district units of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Darrang Zila Sahitya Sabha in association with over 20 non-political organizations.
The rally was held at the historic Gandhi Maidan.
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The rally, titled ‘Darrangee Ranadhwani’, was addressed by several speakers including journalist Adip Kr Phukan, secretary-general of Asom Sahitya Sabha (ASS) Padum Rajkhowa, AJYCP president Rana Pratap Baruah and ASSU chief organizing secretary Raju Phukan among others.
While addressing the gathering, Phukan expressed hope that the people of Assam would win the legal battle against CAA in the apex court.
The Supreme Court will hear several pleas demanding to scrap of the new citizenship Act in mid-January.
However, Phukan also hinted at the possibility of losing the legal battle as he did not rule out that the apex court is free from any political influence which was made public by a section of its judges earlier.
“The Hon’ble Supreme Court is also not free from doubt as we could see how few of its judges made the attempt of political influence public some time back,” said Phukan.
He further stated that if the legal battle is lost in the judiciary court then its trial should be brought to the people’s court in 2021 and the coalition government in Assam led by the BJP must be dethroned from power.
He warned the agitating people of the government’s evil design to stop their voice by means of oppression, division and luring for government’s beneficiary schemes, which is evident from the recent activities of the government.
Phukan said while grass-roots leaders like Akhil Gogoi and Jiten Dutta have been arrested, a series of individual beneficiary schemes and autonomous councils were announced for some ethnic communities.
The rally was attended by a large number of people from every walk of life, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, and ages.
During the rally, Assamese songs of patriotic fervour composed by Rup Konwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Sudhakantha Bhupen Hazarika were presented by several local artistes.