The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Assam’s largest student body, staged an 11-hour statewide hunger strike to protest the Union government’s Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, which permits undocumented minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, entering India by December 31, 2024, to remain without travel documents. The order extends protections under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which previously applied only to those arriving before December 31, 2014, and has sparked fears of demographic changes among Assam’s indigenous communities.

AASU president Utpal Sharma and general secretary Samiran Phukan, in a joint statement, condemned the order as “more dangerous” than the CAA, alleging it facilitates the settlement of undocumented Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam, violating the 1985 Assam Accord. The Accord, a historic agreement, set a framework for identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants regardless of religion. The student body demanded Assam’s complete exclusion from the CAA, arguing that the state should not bear the burden of immigration alone, especially when states like Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, along with parts of Meghalaya, Tripura, and eight Assam districts, are already exempted due to tribal protections and Inner Line Permit regulations.

AASU’s chief advisor, Samujjal Bhattacharyya, criticized the order as “communal” and destructive to Assam’s indigenous population. He announced plans to burn copies of the order across district headquarters, alongside candle marches, sit-ins, and letters to the central government. Bhattacharyya reiterated demands for an error-free National Register of Citizens (NRC), deportation of illegal migrants, action against fundamentalists, and implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord to protect indigenous rights, as recommended by the Biplab Sharma committee.

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Congress leader Debabrata Saikia echoed AASU’s concerns, labeling the order a violation of the Assam Accord’s spirit and warning that it threatens Assam’s cultural identity. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prioritizing communal politics over the state’s future. However, Dharmananda Deb, a former Foreigners Tribunal member, clarified that the order does not grant citizenship but merely shields eligible minorities from legal action, maintaining the CAA’s 2014 cut-off date for citizenship applications.

The protests underscore deep-seated concerns about Assam’s demographic and cultural integrity, with AASU and other groups vowing to escalate their agitation until the state is fully exempted from the CAA and the new exemption order is revoked.

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