The State-wide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) dampened the New Year celebrations in Assam.
With popular singers and musicians taking the lead in the anti-CAA stir, very few functions were organised on New Year’s eve.
Many hotels avoided “confrontation with the agitators” by cancelling programmes.
The anti-CAA protests affected the popular year-end picnics that usually start around Christmas and end by mid-January on the Magh Bihu festival. This was mainly because of vigilantes attacking some picnic parties, including women, that were perceived to be indifferent to the movement.
“Videos of such attacks were posted on social media but we are yet to take any action as no complaints have been lodged,” a police officer in Morigaon district said.
The protests have also hit the tourism industry hard. Jayanta Malla Baruah, chairman of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation, said the protests had cost the State ₹1,000 crore in less than a month since December 11.
“Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists have cancelled travel and hotel bookings. We are anticipating a loss of ₹500 crore in January as countries such as the U.S., the UAE, Canada, the U.K., Australia, France, Israel, Taiwan, Russia, and Singapore have issued travel advisories to their citizens,” he said.
