Today in Politics: PM Modi to visit four states, in Assam amid growing anti-CAA sentiments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Assam, Arunachal, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh on Saturday to unveil a series of projects.

Starting with Assam, on his second day in the state Modi will visit the Kaziranga National Park and unveil the 84-foot tall statue of Lachit Borphukan, a general in the Ahom Kingdom, in another example of Modi and the BJP celebrating regional icons in recent years. The PM will also lay the foundation stones of several healthcare, housing, energy and road projects, with a total outlay of Rs 18,000 crore.

However, Modi’s Assam visit comes amid reports that the Centre will notify the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed in Parliament in 2019, before the Lok Sabha polls are announced. Through Friday and Saturday, Opposition parties and student groups are intensifying their protests against the CAA, which is viewed in the state as diluting Assamese identity.

In context: The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014, from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here. On Friday, the United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA), comprising 16 parties, staged a sit-in and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and 30 other organisations lit lamps in memory of those who died during the anti-CAA movement in the state in 2019. On Saturday, the AASU has planned a 12-hour fast in all districts. It remains to be seen if the anti-CAA sentiments will carry weight in the BJP’s Lok Sabha campaign for Assam, where the party won 9 of 14 seats in 2019.

Later on Saturday, Modi will head to Arunachal Pradesh to attend a “Viksit Bharat Viksit North East” event and inaugurate