Guwahati: The 48-hour Assam bandh called by the All Moran Students' Union (AMSU) to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and granting of Scheduled Tribe status to six communities on Monday affected normal life in several districts in the first day, officials said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to give Indian nationality to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing religious persecution there, was introduced in Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday.
Shops, markets and financial institutions kept their shutters down, while schools and colleges were closed in the Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Majuli, Morigaon, Bongaigaon, Udalguri, Kokrajhar and Baksa districts after the bandh began at 5 am.
The bandh evoked no impact in Bengali dominated Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi as well as the hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, officials said. The impact of the bandh was negligible in Guwahati. Private offices were closed in the bandh-hit areas and attendance in government offices was thin, they added.
In many places, protestors burnt tyres and blocked national highways but the police swung into action and cleared the roads. Some state-run long distance buses plied with police escort, they said.
The police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse a group of agitators who clashed with police personnel in Dibrugarh and Guwahati while trying to stop movement of vehicles.