Allaying fears and doubts of the people over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that Assam will always remain for the Assamese.

Addressing a press meeting in Guwahati on December 20th, 2019, ” A section of people is trying to aggravate the situation by spreading misinformation and misleading people by saying that 10-15 million people are going to take citizenship in Assam. It’s false propaganda. Such people will soon be exposed. The Assamese language will be protected as a state language forever. The state will always remain for the Assamese. Nobody can take away their land, political rights.”

As the Rajya Sabha passed the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on December 11th, 2019, massive protests erupted in the state including a few other Northeastern states. In Assam, rail stations, panchayat office, a post office, a bank, a bus terminus, shops, several vehicles and other public properties have been either set ablaze or ransacked.

The streets of the state, specially the Guwahati Shillong Road, turned into a veritable battle zone littered with burnt tyres, logs, stones, rubber pellets and teargas shells as seething protesters mostly students descended on the streets opposing the Bill. Four people have been killed in police firing so far, while an oil tanker driver was charred to death when his vehicle was set on fire in Orang.

He informed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate case by case of the recent peace disruption in the state. “An SIT will probe violent clashes and thus reality will be brought forward. I appeal to the entire society to restore peace,” he said.

The agitators said that the Act is against the spirit of secularism and violate the Assam Accord. The Chief Minister further invited the protesting students’ bodies and organisation for talks over the CAA. “The CAA is a national commitment and there is no political motive,” Sonowal said in a press briefing in Guwahati.

Photo: Sarbananda Sonowal/Facebook