Violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act had flared in Assam last year (File)
Amid speculation that the organisations leading the pushback in Assam against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA are planning to come together to form a political front ahead of next year's assembly polls, the powerful All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) have formed a panel of eminent intellectuals to chart their course of action.
The 16-member advisory panel formed on Wednesday will also provide a roadmap on how to secure the future of indigenous people of Assam socially, politically, economically and culturally, AASU said in a statement.
"Since the days of (1979-1985) Assam agitation, we have gone to people from time to time seeking advice on how to carry forward the agitation. We have constituted the committee to advise us on how to move ahead in our opposition to CAA and secure the future of the people of Assam," said AASU adviser and top anti-CAA leader from Assam Samujjal Bhattacharyya.
Till now, both AASU and AJYCP had remained "non-political" though its former activists have mostly joined politics, including Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who is a former AASU president.
"Wishes of people were crushed, CAA is betrayal done to the people of Assam and people will give answer to this betrayal. While we were moving to different nooks and corners of Assam, people were asking us on how to protect the future of Assam. The panel will suggest ways to protect the future of the people," said Lurinjyoti Gogoi, AASU's firebrand general secretary.
"Congress has betrayed the people of Assam, regional party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) which ruled Assam twice also betrayed the people. The BJP led government in Assam imposed a CAA in Assam and facilitated the coming of foreigners in Assam. People of the state are fed up," Mr Changmai told reporters in Guwahati.
Violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which came into effect in January this year and promises citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh if they came in before December 31, 2014, had flared in Assam last year.
The law, which makes religion a test of Indian citizenship for the first time, goes against the principles of the constitution and can be used to target Muslims who cannot prove their ancestry, critics have said.
However, protesters in north-eastern states, including Assam oppose the law as indigenous communities fear it could legalise lakhs of immigrants who have come in from Bangladesh over the decades.