Guwahati, Sept 4: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Thursday staged an 11-hour statewide hunger strike, rejecting the Centre’s new immigration order and reiterating that “Assam will not accept any division of foreigners on religious lines.”
The order, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), allows people from six minority communities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan—who entered India until December 2024 without valid travel documents—to stay in the country. Assam was included in the ambit despite long-standing demands for exemption.
In Guwahati, the Kamrup district unit of AASU led the protest at Dighalipukhuri, joined by parallel demonstrations across all district headquarters.
Calling the move a “betrayal” of the historic Assam Accord of 1985, AASU president Utpal Sarma said the order violates its core clause mandating detection and deportation of all foreigners who entered Assam after March 24, 1971, irrespective of religion.
“The BJP governments in Delhi and Dispur seem more interested in protecting illegal Hindu Bangladeshis than safeguarding the rights of indigenous people of Assam,” Sarma said. “We have already borne the burden of foreigners till 1971. Assam cannot take responsibility for even a single illegal migrant beyond that date.”
Sarma argued that when the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was passed in 2019, AASU had warned that the cut-off date could be extended for non-Muslim migrants. “The new order has turned our fear into reality. The indigenous people of Assam will never accept CAA and will take to the streets to oppose it,” he said.
He accused the Centre of trying to “settle illegal Hindu Bangladeshis” in the state under the Immigration and Foreigners’ Exemption Order 2024, while reiterating AASU’s demand to exclude Assam from both the CAA and the new order.
The AASU president also pressed for immediate constitutional safeguards under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and called for sealing the Indo-Bangladesh border “on a war footing” to prevent further infiltration.
Announcing the agitation roadmap, Sarma said:
September 16: Mass protests across district headquarters
September 20: Statewide hunger strike
September 23: Torchlight processions in all districts
“The protests will continue until the Centre rolls back the order. Everyone who entered Assam after 1971 must be expelled,” he declared.
Reacting to the stir, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said concerns over the CAA were “insignificant” in Assam, noting that only 12 people had applied for citizenship under the Act, of whom three were granted so far. “Many had claimed that 15 to 20 lakh Hindus would come to Assam, but we have seen how such fears proved futile,” the Chief Minister said.
 on Thursday staged an 11-hour statewide hunger strike, rejecting the Centre’s new immigration order and reiterating that “Assam will not accept any division of foreigners on religious lines.”){kind=link}