Students of Assam are real heroes: Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi

Former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi on Monday praisedthe student community of Assam for calling off the violent protests within daysfor improving law and order situation overnight. Addressing students of theGujarat National Law University (GNLU), Ranjan Gogoi also said that everybodyhas the right to express views on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), but"the resolution of the issue must be through Constitutional means".

Referring to the protests over the CAA in Assam, Ranjan Gogoi said that there were elements who wanted to harm the integrity of the country, but the student community in Assam called off the violent protests within days. Ex-CJI Gogoi said he had not yet seen such a "constructive role" played by students. His remarks came while underlining that respecting the unity and integrity of the country is perhaps the "most important fundamental duty".

"After five days of intense problems, the studentcommunity spearheading (the agitations) said we will call off our protests at 5in the evening. No more protests. The law and order became all right overnight.This is the role of the students," CJI Gogoi was quoted as saying by PTI. "I amyet to see a more constructive role played by students," he further added.

"The moment they did it, there was no more violence, there were no law and order issues. People were protesting, yes, but without violence. What is the moral of the story? There are elements who want to harm the integrity of the country. And the students solved it. These are the real leaders of the country," Ranjan Gogoi said.

It may be mentioned here that after reports ofmiscreants joining their protests after evening and resorting to violence bytaking advantage of the darkness, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) onDecember 13 had announced that they will conclude the protests against theamended Citizenship Act by 5 pm.