Guwahati: As protests are taking place across Assam over the notification of the CAA rules, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reached out to the people Tuesday by “guaranteeing” that not a single person apart from those who have been left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) can enter Assam or seek Indian citizenship through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Sarma further gave his word to the people that he would resign if it happens otherwise.
“Assam has seen progress and development after years. There should not be any ‘andolan’ (movement) now. If even a single new person (who had not applied for NRC) is given Indian citizenship, I will be the first to tender my resignation,” he said.
In 2019, Assam had seen widespread protests which turned violent in some places, including Guwahati, over the enactment of the CAA. At least five people died in the protests.
Protests again broke out in the Northeast state after the Modi government announced Monday the implementation of the contentious CAA for granting citizenship to undocumented Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before 31 December, 2014.
CAA is a sensitive matter in Assam where the indigenous people are wary of ‘outsiders’, especially those arriving from Bangladesh. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has been for long demanding the sealing of the India-Bangladesh border over the fear of illegal immigration.
Analysts and political leaders say the indigenous people in Assam suffer an existential crisis with the implementation of the CAA as the legislation nullifies the Assam Accord, which says that immigrants, who came after 24 March, 1971, are to be detected and deported.
The Assam Accord has set a cut-off date of 25 March, 1971. Under the Accord, all migrants settling in Assam prior to that date have been accepted to be eligible for citizenship by all stakeholders through consensus, without distinguishing whether such migrants are Hindus or Muslims, or any other religion.
Moreover, it is also feared that the CAA will bring in linguistic-cultural conflict with the increase of percentage of Bengali-speaking people and the proportional reduction of Assamese-speaking people.
A socio-political analyst told ThePrint that the new lot of people getting Indian citizenship will only add to the shrinkage of economic space, now permanently.
Earlier in February, Sarma specified that at least 27 lakh people in Assam do not have their names in the final list of the NRC, an exercise to weed out illegal immigrants.
On Tuesday, Sarma explained that only a minuscule percentage of people would be granted Indian citizenship following the notification of rules.
Negating the presence of many CAA applicants in the Brahmaputra Valley, the chief minister, however, said at least 50,000-80,000 people could be possibly applying from the Barak Valley.
The Barak Valley is predominantly inhabited by Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims.
“I know that not even 10 persons would be applying for citizenship from Sivsagar district (Upper Assam). People spread rumours about a massive number of foreigners coming to Assam through CAA. Now, the data would speak for itself, and all protesting bodies would have to answer for claiming huge numbers. If it’s actually several lakhs of applicants, even I will protest against it,” Sarma said, adding that the numbers would be known in about 45-60 days.
Referring to the five ‘martyrs’ who lost their lives in the 2019 anti-CAA movement, Sarma said that people of Assam would soon know who was responsible for these deaths.
The Act had been implemented two years ago, and the notification of rules under the legislation would help find out the number of applicants, he remarked.
“We will now get to know if it’s lakhs or thousands who will be applying for Indian citizenship. People of Assam will get to know in two months if we (the government) is right or the protesting parties,” Sarma asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)