We are protesting against CAA to protect our culture, tradition and language: Assamese in Pune

LUIT – Assamese Society in Pune, organised a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Garden on Jungli Maharaj road at 9am. The protest comes three days after the organisation was denied permission by the Pune police to hold a protest on December 15.

At least 200 Assamese living in Pune gathered for the protest and chanted slogans against CAA and demanded its immediate withdrawal. Several protesters had worn the ‘Gamusa’ which is a symbol of Assamese culture.

Rupam Dutta, an IT professional, said, “Not only in Assam, but everywhere in India where Assamese live, they are opposing CAA. Our main concern is to protect our culture, tradition and language. We are not against any religion and we are only concerned about illegal migrants coming to Assam.”

There are at least 20,000 Assamese residing in Pune.

Bidyut Saikia, who is the main organiser of the protest and movement in the city, said, “We got all the permissions and letter from the Pune police for today’s protest. Our people are suffering a lot in Assam, we don’t want the same situation to happen here and so, the protest has been organised to show our solidarity to them.”

Earlier, the protest was planned outside Fergusson College gate on Sunday, but as the Pune police denied permission, it was cancelled. Since then the organisers had been trying to get the necessary permissions and on Wednesday, the protest was organised peacefully with all police permissions. There was massive police deployment at the protest spot.

Another Assamese resident from Pune, Sujata Goswami, said, “Assam is already full with immigrants and we don’t anymore of them, whether they are Muslims, Hindu or from any religion. Assam is not safe for us and there are regular conflicts happening between Assamese and the immigrants. So, we oppose CAA and demand its withdrawal.”