The Northeast Linguistic and Ethnic Coordination Committee (NELECC), a wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has drawn a series of agitational programmes starting Friday.
The NELECC’s wish list includes – incorporating the five documents which have been dropped by the State National Register of Citizens (NRC) Coordinator Prateek Hajela for filing claims and objections of those excluded in the final draft of the citizens’ registry, closure of detention camps and passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Holding a mass convention at Silchar’s Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday, NELECC members chalked out an agitational programme and discussed ways and means to ensure that the five documents which have been ‘dropped’ find their way back in the list of documents earmarked for NRC verification. The views and opinions of the members were heard and everyone who reached the venue wore black badges as a mark of protest.
As a part of their agitational programme, the NELECC members would wear the black badges to their workplaces too. From Friday onwards, a street meeting will be held at regular intervals inside the town areas of Hailakandi, Karimganj and Silchar, to garner support for the NELECC causes.
Speaking to Northeast Now, General Secretary of NELECC, Konkan Narayan Sikdar, said, “On October 2, a ‘Mashal’ rally would be taken out which NELECC would observe as ‘Pratigya Diwas’, while from October 3 to October 6, in all the police stations and outposts of the said three districts of Barak Valley, numbering 51, First Information Report (FIR) against Prateek Hajela would be lodged, for “he is putting lives in jeopardy and forcing people to commit suicide”.
On the day of Mahalaya, that is October 9, a ‘Path Jatra’ would be taken out and agitators would carry placards carrying the words – ‘Shakti Ahavan Divas’ by NELECC, informed Sikdar. If all this is not enough, from October 10 to October 14 next, 10,000 letters would be sent through ‘speed post’ to the Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi, highlighting the grave issues, informed the general secretary of NELECC.
On October 21, a decision would be taken, that on October 23, if the call of the apex court on this issue of incorporating the five documents back in the list of 15, don’t go in their favour, then NELECC would go for a Barak Valley Bandh or even Assam Bandh on October 29, informed Konkan Narayan Sikdar, general secretary of the organisation.
Various organisations and leading citizens of the three districts of Barak Valley have been urged to participate in the NELECC-called agitational programmes.