Assam students' body seeks TMC's support in fight against Citizenship Bill

The influential All Assam Students Union (AASU) has sought the support of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in its fight against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill being pushed by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.

AASU, the state's oldest students' body that continues to spearhead the movement against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state, has reached out to the TMC leadership from neighbouring West Bengal in a bid to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.

Speaking to India Today in Guwahati, AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said, "We recently met Derek O'Brien and Sougata Roy and requested the TMC leadership to support our cause. We explained to them that we are not against Bengalis and that nobody should live in fear. There is a propaganda outside Assam that we are against Bengalis. We are only against illegal Bangladeshis and we believe that Assam cannot be a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis. So we want to assure the Bengali speaking community in India and particularly in West Bengal that we are only against Bangladeshis."

Bhattacharya added the AASU was ready to hold talks with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

"Sougata Roy had mentioned in Parliament that this Bill would affect the interest of indigenous people of Assam and the Northeast. We appreciate this. We want support from the TMC and the West Bengal chief minister. We are ready to speak to her. It is a question of citizens versus non-citizens, not about Hindus versus Muslims or Bengalis versus Assamese people," he said.

The AASU chief advisor maintained that religion could not be the basis for citizenship in a secular country like India.

Bhattacharya said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who himself rose through the ranks of AASU, stood to betray the people of his own state.

"We had high hopes from the Sarbananda Sonowal government. But now they are themselves violating it with this Citizenship Bill. We won’t accept it in any form," Bhattacharya said.

"Unfortunately, there is no change in attitude towards the people of Assam. The same approach of political injustice and exploitation of the north east continues. We feel cheated," Bhattacharya told India Today.

Amidst the prevailing apprehension over the proposed legislation, AASU activists on Wednesday thrashed the district BJP president of Tinsukia.

AASU, alongwith the North East Students Organisation (NESO) and 30 other students' groups have been organising protests across the Northeast against the Bill.