Amid massive protests in northeastern states against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, authorities have imposed curfew in Guwahati to control deteriorating law and order situation. The curfew was imposed at 6.15 pm on Wednesday and will be in place till 7 am on Thursday.
Mobile Internet will be suspended in ten districts of Assam for 24 hours from 7 pm on Wednesday as thousands of protesters clashed with security personnel across the state.
Two Army columns—each consists of at least 70 soldiers—have been dispatched to the Kanchanpur and Manu areas of Tripura while another column is on standby at Bongaingon in Assam. The Centre has also airlifted 5,000 paramilitary personnel to northeastern states, including Assam, for maintenance of law and order duties in the wake of fierce protests over the bill.
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Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, along with several other passengers, was stranded for hours at Guwahati Airport after the city turned into a warzone. Sonowal's security detail kept him inside the airport, not risking a ride through the city.
Though no party or student body has called a shutdown, protesters, a majority of them students, fought pitched battles with security forces in the restive state, including in front of the secretariat.
A large number of agitated students blocked the road near the secretariat complex and pulled down the barricade erected on the arterial G.S. Road, provoking police action.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill with 125 votes in favour and 105 against it. Besides BJP, its allies such as JD-U and SAD, the legislation was supported by AIADMK, BJD, TDP and YSR-Congress. The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill amid strong protests from opposition.
According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014 facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
With inputs from PTI