THE CPIML condemns the imposition of curfew and internet ban, and the deployment of military and paramilitary forces in Assam against the popular movement against the unconstitutional and communal Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The Modi-Shah Government used brute majority to pass the CAB in both houses of Parliament, fully knowing that there have already been long-steading protests against CAB in Assam and the North East, and that it is fast spurring widespread alarm and protests all over India.

Now, instead of immediately withdrawing the CAB, it is instead seeking to do in Assam what it has already done in Kashmir: ban protests, impose curfews, ban the internet, and unleash the Army and paramilitary forces against unarmed civilians. It has also sought to crack down on media coverage of anti-CAB protests, deeming such protests to be anti-national.

The Modi-Shah regime’s all-India NRC and CAB package is a war on India’s Constitution, threatening to strip the poor and the country’s Muslim minorities of citizenship, and divide the country on religious lines. And the deployment of Army and paramilitary makes it clear that the Modi-Shah regime is now waging war on Assam, where the CAB is facing universal opposition.

The Modi-Shah Government and the CAB are squarely responsible for stoking tensions and creating a volatile and explosive situation in Assam. The CPIML has written to the President of India asking him to refuse assent to the CAB, and avert the calamity that looms ahead in Assam and India.

Dipankar Bhattacharya,
General Secretary, CPIML Liberation