GUWAHATI: Despite an appeal by the state government, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Asom Jatiyatabadi Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and 50-odd organizations have decided to go ahead with Tuesday's 12-hour
Assam bandh
called in protest against the controversial
Citizenship
(Amendment)
Bill
.
The state government has ordered the district heads and the government officials not to allow the
bandh to disrupt life.
"The government has asked us not to go ahead with the bandh. We know that bandhs hamper life in certain ways but the issue for which we have called the strike is even bigger and its consequences will be disastrous," said KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi. He slammed chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his government for not supporting the cause of local people.
"No one can spoil our bandh. The people of Assam do not fear BJP. I'm sure people will support the bandh spontaneously which will indicate that we don't support the Citizenship Amendment Bill," added Gogoi.
AJYCP general secretary Palash Changmai alleged that the ruling BJP had called bandhs several times when it was in the opposition. "They can't just thwart our strike. This is the decision of the organizations of the indigenous people of the state," said Changmai. On Tuesday, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the ruling BJP in the state, had organized a mass rally to oppose the bill.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is reviewing the bill after it faced stiff opposition in Parliament in 2016. The bill seeks to provide citizenship to minorities (non-Muslims) from neighbouring countries who have come here till December 31, 2014. The KMSS has asked the JPC chairman and its members to revisit Assam to take the views of Assamese people. The JPC had visited the state earlier this year.
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