Citizenship Bill protests: CM Sarbananda Sonowal stranded at Guwahati airport

Guwahati, Dec 11: Amid massive protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal stuck at Guwahati airport.

Sonowal, who was on a visit to Tezpur, was forced to wait in the VIP lounge of the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport as his convoy could not roll out due to the massive protest.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Wednesday airlifted 5,000 paramilitary personnel to Northeastern states, including Assam, for maintenance of law and order duties in wake protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is being debated in Parliament.

Nearly 20 companies (2,000 personnel) have been withdrawn from Kashmir, where they had been sent prior to the Centre's decision on August 5 to abrogate Article 370 provisions and split the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

The remaining 30 companies have been withdrawn from other places and rushed to Northeastern states, the officials said. The troops are from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).