Several organisations that were involved in the anti-CAA protests in Assam, paid tributes on Sunday to the five agitators who were killed during the protests two years ago.
A memorial gathering was organized at the residence of Sam Stafford, one of the protestors who was killed where the attendees resolved to once again intensify their demands against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), which was one of the first groups to organize protests against CAA, paid tributes at Stafford's residence in Hatigaon in Guwahati in Assam.
Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi, who was a KMSS leader back then and was also jailed for his role in the protests, paid floral tributes at the photographs of those who were killed. While speaking there, he called for political parties and nationalist organisations to take the lead in resuming the movement.
Another gathering on the occasion was organized by the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) at the Hatigaon Higher Secondary School playground in the city.
AASU chief advisor, Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, while speaking on the occasion said, "It is wrong to say that the anti-CAA movement has died out. It had lost its intensity due to the commencement of examinations (in January 2020) and then the pandemic and lockdowns".
"We will resume the agitation with full intensity once again. We won't let the sacrifices go in vain," he added.
Bhattacharya said that the anti-CAA agitation will once again be a pan-Northeast one like in 2019.
Singer-music composer and cult hero Zubeen Garg, who had taken a leading role in the 2019 protests, also paid his tributes at the program organized by the AASU.
Garg said, "We won't accept the CAA and that is for sure. The government is trying to confuse us, but we won't allow them to make us accept it".
Notably, several organisations including AASU, North East Students' Organisation (NESO) and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), marked two years of passage of the act in Parliament by observing December 11 as "black day".