The protest began at 6 am and was observed simultaneously in all district headquarters, with the main demonstration held at Dighalipukhuri in Guwahati.
The agitation will begin with an 11-hour hunger strike on September 4, followed by protest demonstrations on September 16, human chains on September 20, and mass rallies on September 23.
In a sharp rebuttal to the All Bodo Minority Students' Union's (ABMSU) contentious warning that Assamese could be reduced to a minority language, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has condemned the statement as “provocative” and “emotionally manipulative,” while drawing attention to similar language identity tensions playing out in Maharashtra.
The Wire reported the AASU leader, Bhattacharya’s number was added to the list less than a month before the MHA announcement of the new ‘Clause Six Committee’, while ULFA's Chetia was selected for surveillance in late 2018, during peace talks.
Lashing out at the state government, the AASU president said, 'They have unleashed their oppressive machinery on people killing five minor students and injuring many others with bullets. It is clear that the Sarbananda Sonowal government will be brought down.'
The passing of the Citizenship Bill in the Parliament has plunged the northeast, especially the states of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya into deep chaos with locals and students hitting the streets in thousands in protest.
While trains and flights were operating as per schedule at the time of writing, roads bore the brunt of the protests as burning tyres could be seen at various places in Assam to prevent movement of vehicles.
The recent life sentencing of seven personnel, including a Major General, by an Army court for a fake encounter 24 years ago bears significance for another such case in Manipur.
