Janjivan Bureau / Guwahati : Protesters attacked train stations in India’s northeast, authorities said on Thursday, angry over a new law that would make it easier for non-Muslim minorities from some neighbouring countries to seek Indian citizenship. Assam continued to be in flames on Thursday as anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protesters set ablaze the house of an MLA, torched vehicles and burnt down the circle office as the government removed two key police officers including the Guwahati police commissioner.
Munna Prasad Gupta was appointed the new Guwahati police chief replacing Deepak Kumar, while state additional director general of police (Law and Order) Mukesh Agarwal was also transferred.
G.P. Singh has become the additional director general of police (Law and Order).
Officials said protesters set fire to the house of MLA Binod Hazarika in Chabua, and went on the rampage torching vehicles and the circle office.
One person died in Assam on Thursday, a hospital official said, as police clashed with protesters opposing a law that would make it easier for non-Muslim minorities from some neighbouring countries to seek Indian citizenship.
Ramen Talukdar, superintendent of Gauhati Medical College Hospital in Assam’s main city, said five protesters had been brought in with bullet injuries to the hospital and one of them had died.
Protesters in Assam, which shares a border with Bangladesh, say the measure will open the region to a flood of foreigners. Others said the bigger problem with the new law was that it undermined India’s secular constitution by not offering protection to Muslims.
Police fired tear gas in Assam’s main city of Guwahati to break up small groups of people who were demonstrating in the streets, defying a curfew imposed on Wednesday.
“This is a spontaneous public outburst,” said Nehal Jain, a masters student in communications in Guwahati. “First they tell us there are too many illegal immigrants and we need to get rid of them. Then they bring in this law that would allow citizenship to immigrants,” she said.
A movement against illegal migrants has simmered in tea-growing Assam state for decades.
The citizenship amendment law grants Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.
Protesters vandalised four railway stations in Assam and tried to set fire to them, a railway spokesman said. Train services were suspended, stranding scores of passengers. IndiGo said it had cancelled flights because of the unrest in Assam.
The turmoil in Assam comes days ahead of a summit Modi plans to host for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe there as part of his campaign to move high-profile diplomatic events outside of Delhi to showcase India’s diversity.
Modi urged calm and said the people of Assam had nothing to fear. “I want to assure them – no one can take away your rights, unique identity and beautiful culture. It will continue to flourish and grow,” he tweeted.
More troops have been deployed to Assam to restore peace and mobile internet was suspended in 10 districts, the government said.
Thousands of people defied curfew in Guwahati and took to the streets, prompting police to open fire, even as protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill intensified in Assam.
Police said they had to open fire in Lalung Gaon area in Guwahati after stones were hurled by protestors. The agitators claimed that at least four persons were injured in the shooting.
Police also had to fire in the air in several other areas of the city, including the Guwahati-Shillong Road which turned into a war zone as protestors vandalised shops and buildings, burnt tyres and clashed with security forces.
Students’ body AASU and peasants’ organisation KMSS called for a mega gathering at Latashil playground in the city, which was attended by hundreds of people.
Notwithstanding the restrictions, several prominent personalities from the film and music industry, including icon Zueen Garg, joined the gathering along with college and university students.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have betrayed the people of Assam by ensuring passage of the Bill,” AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said at the meet.
Leaders of the AASU and the North East Students’ Organization (NESO) said they will observe December 12 as ‘Black Day’ every year in protest against the passage of the Bill in Parliament.
Kamrup district witnessed an absolute shutdown with offices, schools and colleges closed for the day. Shops were also shut, with no transport plying as all major roads, including the NH 31, being blocked.
Police said they had to fire three rounds in the air in Rangia town as protestors threw stones and burnt tyres.
Agitators were also baton-charged at several places in the town.
Police also fired in the air in Golaghat district to disperse protesters who blocked the NH 39, officials said.
Tea garden workers stopped work in Lakhimpur and Charaideo districts and also at Numaligarh in Golaghat district and some areas in Tinsukia district.
All educational institutions across the state are closed.
Five columns of the Army have been deployed in different parts of the state and are conducting flag marches in Guwahati, Tinsukia, Jorhat and Dibrugarh, officials said.
Several flights and trains to and from Assam have also been cancelled.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution there.
