NRC Row: 46 organisations call for statewide strike, violence mounts in Assam

Tension mounts in Assam as protesters burned tyres and attempted to disrupt train services following a statewide strike called by 46 organisations in the state on Tuesday. The strike is being called against a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee with the Home and External Affairs Ministry over the Citizenship Bill. The bill seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, drawing opposition from several organisations in Assam.

Read |  No blanket ban on firecrackers, can burst green ones from 8-10 pm on Diwali: Supreme Court

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and 44 other organisations have called the 12-hour bandh to protest against the Centre’s bid to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in the Winter Session of Parliament. Political parties, including the Congress and the AIUDF, have extended their support to the bandh.

Read | Bigg Boss contestant Ajaz Khan arrested from hotel for drugs possession

The BJP government in the state instructed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to take measures to maintain public utility services in view of the bandh call. A government communique in this regard had said that necessary pre-emptive and preventive measures to thwart the bandh call must be taken in view of the judgement of the Gauhati High Court, according to news agency PTI.

KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi said this was the first time that they had called a bandh and they would not call it off as the very “existence of Assamese and their identity was at stake by the Bill”.

Also Read | Sabarimala Temple review petitions: Supreme Court to hear pleas on November 13

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014.