The All Assam Students Union has sought support from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in its fight against the Citizenship (Amendment Bill), India Today reported on Thursday. The students’ body has reached out to the senior leadership of the Trinamool Congress in an attempt to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam.
All Assam Students Union Chief Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya told the news website that the organisation recently met Trinamool MPs Derek O’Brien and Sougata Ray and explained to them that the union was not against Bengalis.
“There is a propaganda outside Assam that we are against Bengalis,” said Bhattacharya. “We are only against illegal Bangladeshis and we believe that Assam cannot be a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis. So, we want to assure the Bengali-speaking community in India and particularly in West Bengal that we are only against Bangladeshis.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the Muslim-majority nations of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years. Banerjee has criticised the Centre for pushing through the legislation in the Lok Sabha.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah had earlier said that all Bengali refugees would be granted citizenship once the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, PTI reported.
Bhattacharya said the students’ union was ready to hold talks with Banerjee. “We want support from the TMC [Trinamool Congress] and the West Bengal chief minister,”he added. “We are ready to speak to her.”
The student leader said religion could not be the basis for citizenship in a secular country such as India. “It is a question of citizens versus non-citizens, not about Hindus versus Muslims or Bengalis versus Assamese people,” he added.
Protest march in Guwahati
The union on Thursday held a protest march in Guwahati against the proposed law, ANI reported. Demonstrations were organised in other northeastern states as well. A group of organisations called a 24-hour strike in Manipur, while several tribal political parties united under the leadership of Tripura Congress Working President Pradyot Manikya Deb Barman to protest against the BJP government in the state.
Bhattacharya said Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who himself had been a member of the students union, was betraying the people of the state. “Unfortunately, there is no change in attitude towards the people of Assam,” he added. “The same approach of political injustice and exploitation of the North East continues. We feel cheated.”
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