Guwahati: After months of a lull because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, once again erupted in Assam, one of the most vocal states against the law, on the first anniversary of its execution.
The Act, which makes minority migrants from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India by December 31, 2014, eligible for citizenship, came into force after the Parliament of India cleared it on December 11, 2019, triggering a nationwide protest.
With the CAA completing one year on Friday, All Assam Students’ Union ensued their protest demanding the scrapping of the CAA with immediate effect, with Nagrik Samaj joining the stir a day later.
On Saturday, the Nagrik Samaj held a candlelight protest against the CAA outside Guwahati Club, saying they won’t accept the law.
Protesters in Assam fear that the Act will dilute the ethnicity of the state, especially by granting citizenship to the immigrants from Bangladesh.
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, and Christians facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. (ANI)
