Assam CM Sonowal & Minister Himanta meet Amit Shah, Discuss Strategy to Deal with CAA Protests

New Delhi, January 10, 2019:

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday night met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to chalk out a strategy to deal with the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests that have erupted across Assam in the wake of the passing of the controversial legislation in Parliament.

Meanwhile, protests are also being witnessed in the other Northeast Indian states, as the people see the Bill-turned-Act as a threat to the culture, language, and identity of the people of the region.

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After the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, protests shook Assam, as thousands upon thousands poured out onto the streets, demanding the Government to roll back the CAA, which fast tracks Indian citizenship for minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists – who have faced religious persecution in three neighbouring muslim-majority countries --Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The new law, however, excludes Muslims.

Some of the protests took a violent turn, and as many as five protesters were killed during firing by police in the protests that followed. In the aftermath of the protests, a summit-level meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe was postponed.

Assam is witnessing continuous peaceful protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of 2019. On Thursday, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) conducted peaceful protests against the 'CAA' under the appellation 'Rana Singa' (war bugle), across the length and breadth of Assam.

Meanwhile, many civil society leaders and eminent artistes have announced their plans to float a political outfit to take on the saffron might of the BJP in the impending Assembly elections, to be held in 2021.

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