43 organisations launch attack against '27 Bengali organisation meet' in Khanapara; calls for a 12 hour Assam Band on Oct 23 

The Durga Puja fever is not yet over and the polarisation within Assam has already reached a new decibel. Today, after a meeting in a hotel in Guwahati, 43 independent organisations together hosted a press conference and announced a 12-hour Assam Bandh on October 23, 2018. Few of the organisations were, All Assam Tai Students’ Union, All Assam Moran Students’ Union, All Assam Mattak Sanmilan, Assam Jatiyo Gonomancho among others

Not only that, one of the spokespeople went ahead to warn the government to stop the ’27- Bengali organisation meet’ scheduled on November 17, 2018, in Khanapara or else they would unanimously bring the State to a standstill and launch a counter attack. “Rail, road, waterway, government offices, courts, we would not let anything function for a period of 48 hours if this Bengali organisation’s meet is not stopped,” said a spokesperson while addressing the press.

They accused the state and central government of ‘Conspiracy against Assamese Community’. They alleged that government along with RSS is conspiring to abolish the indigenous Assamese community by bringing in more than a crore Bengali-Hindus from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to them there are Bengali organisations in Assam which are supporting the Bangadeshi-Hindus and destroying the atmosphere of Assam.

Apart from the 27-Bengali-Organisations meet in Khanapara, the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 is also a reason for their angst. One of the spokesperson mentioned that the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) betrayed the Assamese community, “They promised that before submitting their report to the Parliament they would make another trip to Assam as they felt one visit was not enough. But they did not visit Assam. Instead, they are submitting the report in Parliament on October 23, 2018. We think this is injustice toward Assamese community and a conspiracy to break and abolish the community,” said a spokesperson.

Brahmaputra Valley and Barak Valley have stayed poles apart when it comes to the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. While Brahmaputra Valley is completely against the amendment. Barak Valley supports it wholeheartedly. JPC is scheduled to submit its report to Parliament and the Bill is expected to be on the floor in the winter session of Parliament.