The traditional Assamese ‘gamocha’ is a veritable symbol of pride for the State, but of late this sartorial heritage has also become a scroll of protest for people agitating against the amended citizenship law.
With the mobile internet suspended here for the past eight days, protesters have been spilling their anger and resentment against the highly emotive Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), now an Act, on public walls and ‘gamochas’.
Rajya Sabha had passed the contentious bill on December 11 completing the legislative process for giving Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, plunging Assam into a huge chaos, as violent protests had erupted across the State. Guwahati, being the epicentre of the agitation, witnessed protests marches and countless bonfires lit up in the streets across the city till December 12 night, bringing the bustling town to a standstill.
Seeking to check spread of rumour and maintain law and order, authorities had clamped indefinite curfew in Guwahati and suspended internet connection in 10 districts, including Kamrup (Metro) on December 11 evening. Guwahati falls in Kamrup (Metro) district.
As people could not take to social media to vent their ire, many people who opposed the bill spray-painted ‘anti-CAB’ and ‘anti-BJP’ messages on walls in prominent places and inner areas to register their protest, locals said. While the curfew was lifted on Tuesday morning, mobile internet services are still suspended, even as peaceful protests against CAA, led by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) continues at various public squares.
On prominent Md Tyabullah Road skirting the famous Dighali Pukhuri, an entire stretch of walls of private homes, commercial ventures or quarters of Cotton University Professors’ Colony, seems like a giant protest scroll with ‘No CAB’ splattered all over it. “We Assamese totally opposed the bill, and now want the Act to be revoked. Mobile internet has been shut since December 11 evening. People also express their sentiments and resentment on social media.