Thousands of slogan shouting men and women on Thursday joined a anti-influx rally of North East Students Organisation in Guwahati, the gateway of Northeast while normal life was disrupted in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh following a 12-hour bandh called to protest the influx from Bangladesh.
The apex student body of the region had organised a central rally, which was participated by constituent student organisations of all the northeastern states.
Addressing the massive rally, which started from Latasil Play Ground, NESO chairman Samujjal Bhattacharjee said, “Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had signed the Assam Accord in 1985, but Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairperson, has failed to implement it and stop illegal migration.”
He regretted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in Parliament, has also failed to take note of it. Charging Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi of diluting serious issues by his light remarks, he accused him of trivialising the issue. The NESO chairman who has spearheading an anti-influx movement in the state said that the recent exodus of students and professionals to the Northeast following the riots in lower Assam was the outcome of the government’s apathy.
AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy and its general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi underlined the need to build a united struggle for the expulsion of the foreign nationals illegally staying in the region.
Apart from students bodies of Northeast, 26 ethnic groups of the state had extended their support to the protest rally, which was organised defying Assam government’s appeal against holding of rallies and procession for next one month in the state.
Security sources said that shops, markets, business establishments, government and private offices, banks and education institutions were mostly closed in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh due to the bandh which began on Thursday morning. However, bandh called by students had very little impact in Meghalaya.