Anti-CAA protests broke out in parts of the northeast after a 2-year gap (File)
After a gap of almost two years, protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, returned to the Northeast today. While the All Assam Students Union (AASU) organised a protest meeting against CAA, the North East Students' Organisation (NESO) held protests against the contentious act across the entire region.
The police, however, prevented AASU activists from bringing out a protest rally today.
Assam had seen its first anti-CAA protests in 2019, which continued until 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Reports said more protests would be staged in the coming days with the aim to draw attention to the prevailing situation in different northeastern states.
Seeking a permanent solution to the issue of illegal immigrants, implementation of the Assam Accord, dealing with jihadi terrorists, withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from all northeastern states and promulgation of inner-line permit rule in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura are the other major issues over which protests are being held.
The CAA was passed in Parliament on December 11, 2019.
The Act amended the Citizenship Act of 1955, to grant eligibility for Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. However, the Act does not mention Muslims.