New Delhi: The anti-Citizenship Act Protests in the north eastern states and West Bengal continue to cripple normal life even as the government is saying the situation is normal.
The death toll in Assam has risen to 6 in the protests that are continuing from the past few days. Though the curfew imposed because of the protests in Guwahati has been relaxed from 9 am to 6 pm on Sunday, the city remains tense.
In another major development, France, Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. have issued travel advisories for their nationals travelling to India or staying in India in view of the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. A statement issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK asks visitors to the northeast to avoid unnecessary travel. The U.S. also asked its citizens to exercise caution in the context of protests and violence against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). France and Israel have also cautioned their citizens to stay alert. These advisories followed the High Commissioner of U.N. Human Rights body expressed concern saying that the CAB was “fundamentally discriminatory in nature”.
In West Bengal, violent protests continued today with protestors torching railway properties and disrupting movement of passenger trains. Protestors targeted railway properties in Malda, Howrah and Murshidabad causing loss of property. Meanwhile Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, appealed for peace, while the opposition BJP called for imposition of President’s Rule if the violent protests continued.
The movement of passenger trains in all most all divisions of South Eastern Railways, Eastern Railways, Northern Railways, East Coast and Northeast Frontier Railway remained affected as many trains either being cancelled or short terminated. According to a railway official, 78 trains, including 28 express trains, were cancelled by the South Eastern Railway, while around 39 trains were either rescheduled or diverted.
According to an East Coast Railway release, many of the Odisha bound trains and trains running through Odisha are also affected.
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