AS-CITIZENSHIP-PROTEST

Villagers donate rice to AASU to carry on protests against CAA
Dibrugarh/Guwahati, Jan 18 (PTI) The protest against the
contentious Citizenship Amendment Act saw a large number of
villagers in Dibrugarh district donating a large quantity of
rice to AASU on Saturday to carry on the agitation.
    At a public rally in Sasoni circle, which is the
largest revenue circle of Dibrugarh district, residents of 85
villages donated 350 quintals of rice to All Assam Students'
Union (AASU) in the presence of its general secretary
Lurinjyoti Gogoi, sources in AASU said.
    AASU is spearheading the agitation across the state
against the contentious legislation and is demanding that the
law which seeks to provide citizenship to the religious
minority in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan be repealed.
    The revenue circle is the highest producer of rice in
Dibrugarh and the sources said villagers donated 645 sacks of
rice, each weighing 50 kg, to the students union.
    "We are totally against the CAA as it will endanger
our existence....We are donating our rice. If needed, we will
not think twice to shed our blood in our fight against the
Act," Bidyanka Borgohain of Sukani village told PTI.
    Siddhi Duwarah of Kukurapomia village said as CAA has
already been enacted the only option to get it withdrawn
legally.
    "To fight a case in the Supreme Court, one needs a
huge amount of money. We are an agrarian community. We do not
have money, but we have our produce. So, we decided to give it
to AASU for the legal battle," he added.
    Bikash Baruah of Paniabuwa village said every family
donated at least four kg of rice and all the households of the
Sasoni took part in this exercise.
    "We started collecting rice from January 3. If needed
we will donate more rice in the coming days," Jatin Dhadumia,
a resident of Khatuwa village in the circle said.
Over 60 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court
against the Act and AASU is one of the petitioners.
    Meanwhile, protests against the controversial law
continued across the state with thousands of people coming out
on the roads to join it.
     "Amit Shah thought that he would be able to implement
CAA very easily in Assam, but he is wrong. We will not deviate
from our stand and accept a single Bangladeshi. We will not
give one inch of our land for the illegal immigrants," the
AASU general secretary said in Duliajan.
     He alleged that there has been an attempt by the
government to suppress the movement and efforts are being made
to lure people from different fields.
     "But the people of the state will not be swayed by
the government tactics. The peoples' movement will continue
until the goal is reached," Gogoi said.
    The AASU and the artistes' community organised a
public rally at Chandmari in Guwahati, while a huge gathering
took place at Dharapur near the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi
International Airport in the city.
     "BJP had promised to deport all illegal immigrants
from Assam after May 16, 2014. But they did nothing and are
now trying to bring Hindu Bangladeshis. They are dividing
illegal immigrants into Hindus and Muslims. Assam is a place
where people are not discriminated on the basis of their
religion," popular singer Manas Robin said at Dharapur.
    The government had thought this agitation would end
within 4-5 days but it is on for over a month and will
continue till CAA is repealed, he added.
    In Golaghat and Dhekiajuli too public rallies were
organised under the aegis of AASU and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva
Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP).
    An event was organised against CAA at the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences in Guwahati in which a number of
speakers spoke against the Act.
    In almost all the rallies, traditional Assamese
musical instruments were played to foster anti-CAA sentiments
in the people.
    Peaceful protests have been continuing across
Brahmaputra valley after violent protests by the people
against CAA in which three rail stations, a post office, bank,
bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and many other public
properties were set ablaze or totally damaged since December
9. PTI TR COR
KK KK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)