Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on December 11th, 2019 got stuck at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Borjhar. Guwahati was hit by massive protests by student bodies as they demanded the withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Sonowal landed at Guwahati from Tezpur. Following massive protests in Guwahati over the controversial Bill, the Assam Chief Minister got stuck inside the airport. As per the latest information, he is presently resting at the VIP lounge of the airport.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to the people belonging to the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis who have become the victims of religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and entered India on or before December 31st, 2014.
The agitators said that the Bill nullifies the Assam Accord which has fixed March 24th, 1971 as the cut-off to identify illegal foreigners.
A few days back, Sonowal had to face the wrath of members of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) which is staging protests across the state against the Bill.
On December 2nd, 2019, the AASU volunteers gheraoed Sonowal’s private residence in Dibrugarh for some time until they were dispersed by the security personnel who also ensured his safe passage to the helipad.
The protestors slammed Sonowal for his “meek surrender” before the BJP-led Central government on the issue of the Bill. The protestors alleged that “power-hungry” Sonowal remained silent to save his chair.
He was shown blag flags when he went to attend two separate events in the state – Guwahati and Kaliabor – a day before the Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha.
As the debate was going on in the Lok Sabha on December 9th, 2019 over the Bill, Sonowal took to Twitter and said a section has maligned the image of the state by spreading misinformation that only Assam will have to again bear the burden of illegal immigrants.
“It is important to realise that the #CitizenshipAmendmentBill is for the whole of India and not only for Assam,” he tweeted.
Photo: Time8
