AASU to Launch 'War Horn' against CAA on Jan 9

Guwahati, January 8, 2020:

Continuing the series of protests against the amendment of the Citizenship Act, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), 70 other indigenous organizations, and artistes from Assam have called for a spontaneous mass protest termed as “ৰণশিঙা” (war ) on January 9, from 11 am onwards.

AASU and the protesting bodies have called upon all the people of Assam to join the protest spontaneously and bring along with them all traditional instruments such as ‘Bortaal’, ‘Taal’, ‘Khol’, ‘Bahi’, ‘Shankh’, ‘Horn’, etc.

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According to the protesting bodies, this is the last battle to protect the identity of the ‘Assamese’ which is under serious threat from the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The contentious Bill turned Act has led to mass uprisings across the nation as the Bill is being seen as "unconstitutional" and "communal" by detractors.

The protest has also witnessed mass uprisings from the students across the nation and even Assamese people living abroad have also resorted to protests against the CAA, fearing  a loss to their identity and being swamped by illegal immigrants from neighboring countries.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities that had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014.

Muslims were not given such eligibility. The act was the first time religion had been used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law.

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