Take negligible people to Guj: Samujjal Bhattacharya

AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said on Sunday that the Assam government should consult with the Centre to make arrangements for taking people who will be benefited from the new citizenship law to Gujarat, in a dig at Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal.

In a video message, the chief minister had said on Saturday that the number of people to be benefited by the amended Citizenship Act is "very negligible".

Addressing a protest meet, 'Concert for Peace and Harmony' , Bhattacharya said, "If they know there are only negligible foreigners in Assam, then go today itself and talk to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to make arrangements for keeping them in Gujarat."

"It would not take much time to take the negligible number of foreigners from here...they can be taken in one train only," he added.

Sonowal had alleged that misinformation like more than a crore people would enter Assam under the Act was spread to create confusion among the people.

Bhattacharya said All Assam Students' Union (AASU) would not accept the amended Citizenship Act.

"We want to remind Sonowal, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, other ministers, MPs and MLAs that as per the historic Assam Accord, the people of the state took the burden of illegal migrants from 1951 to 1971. We will not take the burden of even one foreigner after 1971. We warn the government not to instigate the people," he asserted.

Democratic protests by AASU across the state has been going on peacefully and a three-day 'Satyagraha' will be observed from Monday, he said, adding that even students' organisations in Nagaland and Meghalaya have informed him that they have been protesting against the new citizenship law and called bandhs.

He said a team of the North East Students' Organisation will be going to Delhi to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the amended Citizenship Act.

Claiming that five students have so far been killed in police firing, the All Assam Students' Union chief advisor accused the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government of using the state machinery to dominate the protesters.

Singer-actor Zubeen Garg, who has been in the forefront of the ongoing agitation, alleged that "the state government has killed five young people. We have not killed anyone, why this violence on us".

He appealed to the people not to indulge in violence.

"General people should not be harassaed. Some bad elements are being used, maybe with moneydo not sell your state for money," he said.

Assam is witnessing one of the worst violent protests by the public in its history with three rail stations, a post office, a bank, a bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and other public properties being set ablaze or ransacked.

After the Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday night, the state erupted in protests, in which agitators fought pitched battles with the police in almost every major city or town, forcing the administration to impose curfew.