Neso protests implementation of CAA for ‘political gains’

GUWAHATI: The North East Students’ Organisation (Neso) observed “Black Day” across capitals of the northeastern states on Monday, warning the Centre against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for political gains before Lok Sabha polls. Neso’s constituent organisations staged protests holding black flags, placards and meetings against the CAA.
The CAA, 2019 was passed by Parliament on this day (December 11) in 2019, after which violent protests broke out in Assam where five people were killed in police action.Intense protests also erupted in other northeastern states, but Assam was the major cause of concern due the decades-long issue of illegal infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh. Besides Assam, in Tripura, where the issue of illegal infiltration has been the biggest concern, the protesters thronged streets condemning the “CAA implementation move” by next year.
“The CAA was passed in 2019, as the government of India did not care for the sentiments or listen to the views of the indigenous people of northeast. Four years have passed but CAA has not been scrapped. It remains a threat to the whole of northeast and will affect the demographic structure of the entire region,” Neso chairman Samuel Jyrwa told TOI, on Monday. He cautioned that the northeast is not a dumping ground of illegal migrants.
Several opposition parties will join the anti-CAA stir, which is set to be relaunched in the state from Guwahati on Tuesday, by the co-ordination committee headed by noted intellectual Hiren Gohain.