A bus was set on fire, stones were pelted on some others on Wednesday evening while students staged angry protests in front of Assam secretariat here since morning amid the day-long debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Assam police clamped curfew in Guwahati for an indefinite period from 6.15 pm as fire tenders struggled to control the blaze near the state secretariat.
The situation still remained tense in Tripura with several parts reporting violent clashes between those opposing the bill and those refusing to join them.
At least four columns of the army were requisitioned, two each for Kanchanpur and Manugram in Tripura and Dibrugarh and Bongaigaon in Assam. As the violent protests did not stop even till Wednesday evening, Assam government followed Tripura by imposing a restriction on mobile internet for the next 24-hours starting from 7 pm on Wednesday.
Thousands of college and university students blocked the busy Guwahati-Shillong Road here since morning while some set the bamboo barricade on fire near the state secretariat. Police personnel, who struggled to stop the angry students from marching towrads the secretariat had to fire tea gas shells and water cannos. At least three TV journalists were hurt in the police lathicharge. Others blocked roads and set fire on barricaded in two other places in the city. Gauhati University postponed examinations scheduled to be held from December 16.
Almost similar protests were staged in Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Sivasagar districts in eastern Assam.
The protest broke out almost at a time when home minister Amit Shah tabled the bill in the Rajya Sabha. The bill that seeks to allow non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had migrated due to "religious persecution" till December 2014 to apply for Indian citizenship was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday night despite long protests across the region.
Organisations said entire Northeast is against the "communal bill" as it will allow a large number of illegal migrants to become Indian citizens and reduce the indigenous people into minorities in their own land.
The All Assam Students' Union said the bill violates the Assam Accord of 1985, which promised to detect and deport all post-1971 migrants, irrespective of religion. They want that all foreigners, irrespective of religion must be detected and deported based on March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date.
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