Amid the Magh Bihu festivities, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal faced black flags by agitators protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on January 15th, 2020.

The activists of the All Assam Students Union waved black flags at him at Mohanbari while the Chief Minister was travelling from the Dibrugarh Airport to Bindhakata Mulok Gaon.

The protesters also shouted anti-CAA and anti-government slogans while Sonowal’s convoy was passing through the route.

Sonowal has become the main target of the protests against the CAA in the state. Once hailed as the ‘Jatir Nayak’ (hero of the community), Sonowal today is called the “betrayer of the Assamese people”. The AASU and other organisations have slammed Sonowal for “surrendering to the BJP” and maintaining “stoic silence over the act”.

As per the CAA, the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have entered India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31st, 2014 facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

Those who are opposed to the legislation say that the CAA violates the Assam Accord and is against the basic tenets of the country’s constitution.

Photo: Screengrab/Time8