The members of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Saturday began a 30-hour hunger strike against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at court field in Dhemaji district.
The members of the students’ body holding play cards and banners chanted slogans against the ruling BJP government.
The 30- hour hunger strike started from 8 am on Saturday and will end at 3 pm on Sunday.
Speaking at the gathering, Budin Baruah, retired principal of Dhemaji College said, “We will not allow the CAA to implement in Assam because the act is anti-constitutional and anti-people. We will continue our peaceful protest against the anti-Assamese act.”
“BJP has been forcefully trying to implement the act in Assam for their political benefit but we will not let this happen in Assam,” Baruah said.
AASU, central committee vice president Chittaranjan Basumatary said Assam is not a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis.
“We will continue our movement till the act is not scrapped. The CAA is against the people of Assam but the BJP government has been forcefully imposing in Assam.
“We have made it crystal clear that we will not accept any foreigner who has entered the state after 1971, be it Hindu or Muslim. The CAA is against the spirit of the Assam agreement of 1985,” said Basumatary.
He said they have planned a lot of programmes against the CAA in Assam.
“On March 3 and 4, we will organise motorcycle rally and after that lot of protest programme will be organise across Assam against the CAA. On Sunday, AASU general secretary Lurin Jyoti Gogoi will join the hunger strike,” Basumatary said.
Seven members of the AASU were detained by the police for showing black flags to state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass at Chabua in Dibrugarh district on Thursday.
The BJP chief accompanied by Chabua MLA Binod Hazarika was on the way to attend a party meeting at Chabua when around 1,000 AASU members protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) stopped his convoy in the middle of Chabua town and showed black flags.