The Opposition in Assam has stepped up protest against the Central government’s plan to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (AAP) across the state.

On Thursday, the Tinsukia unit of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) organised a sit-in on a large scale prompting the police to detain several protesters.

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The United Opposition Forum, a confederation of sixteen political parties in Assam, decided to intensify protests and send a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu against the proposed notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

The leaders of 16 Opposition parties, including that of the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Left parties, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and others, met Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Thursday and submitted a memorandum to the President through him with a request not to implement the law in the state.

“If CAA is implemented in the state, the Opposition parties will launch widespread protests against the Act across the state and a detailed agitation programme will be chalked out against the ‘unconstitutional and communal’ Act,” Borah said.

The united forum also threatened to call Assam bandh if the Act came into force and gherao the Janata Bhawan (the state secretariat) to bring all administrative work to a halt.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act that aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries, particularly Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, has been a bone of contention in Assam.

The protests were led initially by apolitical organizations like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) to voice concerns over the state’s demographic integrity rather than religious discrimination.

Earlier, protest demonstrations against the Act were marred by violence leading to loss of lives and arrests before receding in the wake of the Covid pandemic. However, the contentious issue continues to fuel dissent and mobilisation among Opposition groups in the state.

Meanwhile, Assam DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh warned the organisers of the protests of recovery of financial losses of up to Rs 1,643 crore a day incurred by the agitation to be from them.

“Reiterating my post of June 2022 about Bandh Calls and responsibility/accountability of those who call for Bandh as directed by Hon’ble Gauhati High Court in WP(C) 7570/2013 Date : 19.03.2019 Needless to say that with the GSDP of Assam pegged at INR 5,65,401 Crore, loss from a day’s Bandh would be approximately INR 1643 Crores recoverable from those who call for such a Bandh in accordance with Para 35(9) of the aforementioned order of the Hon’ble Gauhati High Court order,” Singh said in microblogging site X.