Protesting Citizenship (Amendment) Bill : AMSU calls general strike, burns Bill copies
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 07 2019:
Apart from calling an 11-hour State-wide general strike from 5 am till 4 pm tomorrow in solidarity with NESO's total shutdown which would be imposed throughout the North East region tomorrow in protest against the Union Government's effort to pass Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the Lok Sabha tomorrow (January 8), AMSU today burnt several copies of the said Bill at its headquarters, located inside DM College campus.
Protesting the Bill, the Zeliangrong Students' Union, Manipur has stated that a bandh will be imposed in its areas of jurisdiction from 5 am to 4 pm of January 8 .
AMSU further appealed to both the people of hills and valley region to support the general strike called under the banner of NESO.
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It warned the Centre and the State Government that the whole North East, including Manipur will be in turmoil if Parliament forcefully passes the said Bill, despite strong protest from NESO and people of North East region.
Speaking to reporters by the sideline of the protest demonstration marked by burning copies of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, AMSU president Manjit Sarangthem also urged the MPs from the State to fight tooth and nail in both the Houses of the Parliament against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.He said that AMSU strongly condemns the Union Government's relentless effort to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the Lok Sabha tomorrow despite strong protests from NESO and all stake holders.
Asserting that the Centre is determined to pass the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 despite strong protests from all student organizations in the North East region, he decried that the Union Government's act amounts to insulting the people of the region.
He further alleged that the main agenda of the Union Government's step to pass the Bill is to eliminate the indigenous people of the North East Region from their own soil by assimilating the blood of foreigners besides making the said region a dumping zone for refugees.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is also an unjust and partial Bill which is completely in favour of a few religious faiths, he noted adding that the Bill therefore is against the very idea of secularism and democracy.
Meanwhile, NESO general secretary Sinam Prakash Singh conveyed that NESO had received information that the Joint Parliamentary Committee has submitted its report on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha today (January 7) and the BJP is all set to table the said Bill tomorrow in Lok Sabha.
He added that NESO has also learned that BJP is also planning to table the same Bill in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow itself.