An 11-hour shutdown began in the North East at 5 am on Tuesday in protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, PTI reported.
In Assam, the strike has been called by the powerful All Assam Students’ Union and has been supported by the Asom Gana Parishad, which withdrew support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government on Monday, the Congress, the All India United Democratic Front, and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti.
The North East Students’ Organisation, an umbrella organisation of students’ unions, has also supported the call for a shutdown. Apart from the political outfits in Assam, the Mizo Zirlai Pawal, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union, the Khasi Students Union, the Garo Students Union, the Naga Students’ Federation, the All Manipur Students Union and the Twipra Students’ Federation are also supporting the strike.
Tyres were burnt on roads in Guwahati, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts to prevent movement of vehicles. Railway tracks were briefly blocked in Guwahati and Dibrugarh districts but movement of trains, including the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express, resumed after the railway police removed protestors from the tracks, unidentified railway officials told the news agency. Flight operations were unaffected.
In the Brahmaputra Valley, shops, markets, financial institutions, educational institutions and private offices remained closed. Private vehicles, including long-distance buses, kept off the roads.
In Tripura, where the BJP is in power, the strike had no impact. The shutdown call also did not affect life in Assam’s Barak Valley, where people are largely supporting the proposed law, Northeast Now reported.
The strike came a day after members of some Assam-based organisations that oppose the bill protested in the nude in Tinsukia and also near Parliament in Delhi.
On Saturday, protests broke out in parts of Assam against the draft law, which seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 in order to grant citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years, even if they do not possess the necessary documents. The existing law states that “citizenship of India by naturalisation can be acquired by a foreigner (not illegal migrant) who is ordinarily resident in India for twelve years”.