A 12-hour road, national highway and rail blockade program was organized across parts of Tripura by the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) on Sunday morning demanding the withdrawal of the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.
Theblockade led by INPT President Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl and General Secretary Jagadish Debbarma began at 6 AM to protest the proposed Bill.
The areas of the road blockade were the Dhalai and West Tripura districts, Khamthingbari of Baramura Hills and Faizamara of Mohanpur subdivision. The National Highway-44 connects Agartala with Assam.Railways were blocked as well.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was introduced to India’s Lok Sabha in July, 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government. The bill aims to provide citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who left Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to escape religious persecution.
The decision to organize blockades was taken at a Central body meeting of INPT held on November 24which was attended by all the office bearers of the party.
The state government took all necessary steps to prevent the occurrence of any untoward incidents by deploying security forces around the areas of blockade. Consequently, the blockade remained largely peaceful.
