Amit Shah to meet AASU, AJYCP and others to discuss Citizenship Amendment Bill

GUWAHATI: Home minister Amit Shah will meet representatives of All Assam Students’ Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, Manipur People against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and student bodies of Nagaland in the National Capital on December 3 to discuss the tabling of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Parliament.

There have been widespread protests in the northeast over the introduction of the Bill, which seeks to make Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan eligible for citizenship if they have lived in India for six years or more. For this, a law needs to be amended.


The Opposition party in Assam, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), has said it will move the Supreme Court against the Bill.

On November 29 and 30, Shah had met chief ministers, political parties and organisations from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland. The Meghalaya government, and groups from Tripura opposed the Bill during the meeting.

Students of Cotton University in Guwahati and Dibrugarh University carried out protests against the Bill, with the latter announcing that political leaders supporting the Bill will not be allowed to enter the university.

Supporters of All Assam Students’ Union took out a cycle rally in Guwahati against the Bill. Its general secretary, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, said, “Sonowal (chief minister) is silent while his counterparts in Meghalaya and Nagaland had opposed the CAB.”

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a revised draft of the CAB will be laid in parliament before December 10.

At a function in Jorhat, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the Assamese people had overcome all challenges in the past and any threat to its identity will not stand. The chief minister said that several efforts were made by the Assam government to secure the interests and rights of all indigenous communities of the state.

AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam said, “We had opposed CAB during our meeting with Shah. We will move the Supreme Court if CAB is passed in parliament. This bill is against the basic principle of the Indian Constitution. It violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.”

He said that CAB will nullify Assam Accord and National Register of Citizens (NRC). “With CAB, BJP is carrying the Hindutava agenda and this is a grave threat to minorities. Assam has already shouldered the burden of 25 lakh immigrants and cannot take any further.”

However, Assam BJP unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said CAB is a commitment of the BJP. “We welcome the move to table the CAB in parliament.”