The All Assam Students' Union (Aasu) and 28 other organizations took out a rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Guwahati on Friday. Citizens from all walks of life joined the rally from the Latasil playground to Chandmari in the city and raised their voices saying the BJP government at the Centre and the state should be ready for consequences if the bill is not withdrawn. Aasu activists from Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi - three districts of the Barak valley that had previously come out in support of the bill at the time of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) hearing - also joined the protest on Friday.The bill proposes to grant citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Aasu said the proposed legislation poses a grave threat to the Assamese language and the demography of the state. The North East Students' Organization (Neso) too extended its support to the movement against the bill.Chief adviser of Aasu, Samujjal Bhattacharyya said, "Centre and the state government must not test the patience of the people of Assam. The people have already voiced their opinions and shared their apprehensions about the bill before the JPC. Today's show of strength is a stern warning to the Centre and the state government to withdraw the bill which poses a massive threat to the indigenous tribes of the state." He added that the Aom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodo People's Front (BPF), which are allies of the BJP in the state government, will also have to be answerable to the people of the state if the bill is passed in Parliament.Aasu president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said the state government should not follow the 'diktats' of the Centre on the issue since the bill threatens the very existence of the indigenous people of Assam. They reiterated that all illegal immigrants, who entered Assam after March 25, 1971, must be detected and deported as per the Assam Accord of 1985. "Census reports state that the number of Assamese-speaking people has declined in the state since 1991. Aasu has always expressed concerns about the fate of Assamese people in their own state. At such a crucial juncture, if this bill gets passed, the misery of the indigenous people will be beyond imagination," Gogoi said. Alleging that BJP's slogan to safeguard the interests of 'Jati-Mati-Bheti' (community, home and hearth) before the assembly election was a 'farce', he added, "If BJP goes against its promise of deporting illegal immigrants, the people of Assam will give a befitting reply to them in next year's general election."Aditya Khakhlari, general secretary of All Assam Tribal Sangha which is the apex tribal organization of the state, demanded a 'bold step' from the Assam government to show its opposition to the bill. He felt that such a step was necessary because of the widespread protests against the bill.from Guwahati News, Latest Guwahati News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India https://ift.tt/2yRzJi2