For the fourth consecutive day Assam has been embroiled in protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Adjacent areas like the state of Meghalaya and Tripura too face a similar situation under curfews and a communication shutdown.
Resignations by the dozen at BJP
The BJP has received a massive setback in the state as Executive member of BJP Assam Pradesh and Chairman of Assam Petrochemical Ltd Jagadesh Bhuyan resigned from both his posts supporting the protests against CAB. He said that the bill was against the people of Assam and that he would support them in their protest against the same.
Two Zilla Parishad Members from the home constituency of CM Sarbananda Sonowal in Majuli have resigned from the BJP.
The President of the Gaon Panchayat including other members have resigned from the BJP with more resignations coming in from the members in lower posts.
Protests still raging against CAA
With the shutdown of Assam, public services have come to a halt. Local trains have been disrupted and long distance trains have been cancelled or rescheduled. There is a scarcity of oxygen at hospitals like the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and Medical Council of Assam (MCA). The exams to be held across universities in the state have been postponed indefinitely.
In Guwahati, the mass hunger by AASU and the artists association saw a crowd of 50,000 people joining in. They have decided to hold a ‘Public Disobedience Programme’ from December 15 – 17. They have also decided to not hold any public meetings after 5 PM given the security situation in the state.
Golaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Nagaon, Kamrup, Morigaon and Barpeta including many other districts saw a large number of protests.
Today, State BJP President Ranjit Kumar Das’ residence was ransacked in Assam.
In Melapara in Khunti Assembly Constituency, the police allegedly opened fire at peaceful protestors to instigate and intimidate them. Chandmari flyover, where protests were gaining momentum too, the police allegedly opened fire at protestors who then allegedly retaliated by setting a police van on fire. Protestors in Udalguri district too were shot at by the police.
All of the above incidents where police has resorted to shooting have been unprovoked.
The Congress staged a protest against CAB at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Present at the protest, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia called upon the Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami to hold a special session to discuss CAB and its implications on Assam.
The rally also saw the attendance of State Congress President Ripun Bora and Congress MP Khalek and many others. In the meanwhile, some members of the Congress Legislative Party met with the Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami raising that demand that CAB be revoked.
In the wake of police brutality against protestors and reports coming in about Hindutva outfits and extremist elements stoking the communal element and the tactics of repeating the clampdown in Kashmir in Assam, people are seeing through the tactics of the BJP.
Top order reshuffles and transfers have taken place, CM Sonowal is being looked at as inefficient in controlling the matter and people who have seen the death of anywhere between three to five co-agitators are not willing to let BJP get away with the CAB.
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