Image Courtesy: AJYCP activists stage a sit-in against the Act in Jonai on Tuesday. Picture by UB Photos
Amid the rising protests against the hurriedly enacted Citizenshiop Amendment Act (CAA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Assam has been cancelled. The PM was scheduled to visit Assam on Friday to inaugurate the third edition of Khelo India Youth Games in Guwahati.
“The present situation in Assam is not appropriate for the Prime Minister to visit Assam,” intelligence sources informed.Khelo India Games, Avinash Joshi said that they have been informally informed that Modi would not visit Guwahati to inaugurate the sports event.
“Khelo India, Bhago Modi” slogan will greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he visits Assam to inaugurate the Khelo India Youth Games on Friday here, warned the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) at a massive protest meeting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Jonai, Dhemaji district, on Tuesday. According to reports in The Telegraph, the AJYCP urged people to join the anti-CAA protest movement in the state and to raise their voice against the “draconian” law in such a way that the “Prime Minister gets scared hearing your chant”.
Participating in the Jonai rally, about 530km from here, AJYCP general secretary Palash Changmai said: “Modi is going to be greeted with a massive protest if he visits Guwahati during Khelo India. People of Assam will chant ‘Bhago Modi-Bhago Modi’ if he visits Assam.”
To drive home his message against the CAA, Changmai said: “I will say ‘Khelo India, you will respond by saying Bhago Modi’.” The crowd responded enthusiastically.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) too has warned Modi of facing massive protests if he visits Assam.
That the anti-CAA brigade has grown restive was evident when a section of the crowd at the abandoned t20 match between India and Sri Lanka here on Sunday shouted slogans against chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his cabinet colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma and the ruling BJP despite unprecedented security at the stadium.
The AJYCP is one of the organisations along with AASU, KMSS and citizens’ groups who are at the forefront of the protests against the CAA in the state along with 30 other indigenous groups. The anti-CAA brigade feels the law will allow illegal Bangladeshis to acquire citizenship, which will pose a threat to the identity, culture, language and land of the indigenous Assamese. The government has, however, been trying to convince the masses that there will be no fresh influx and there is no threat to their existence.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s scheduled visit to Guwahati on December 15 had to be postponed due to escalating protests and violence against the CAA in the state. During a protest on December 11, goons vandalised all platforms, welcome gates and flower pots installed for Abe’s visit. Officially five persons died in the protests.
“We are not against sports, but Modi has to know the mind of the people of the state over the CAA. We, however, urge the sportspersons from Assam to stand by the people of Assam like the artistes and other communities,” Changmai said. The AJYCP castigated Modi and Sonowal for allegedly working against the interest of the larger Assamese society.
“Unless the people of Assam shun the BJP and its parent organisation, the RSS, the people of Assam will not be safe. We need to uproot them from Assam to protect our state and its culture,” Changmai said, adding that the people of Assam would decide their future and “not a government which doesn’t respect people’s sentiment”.
AJYCP members also took out a protest rally in Sivasagar district.