The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB has been a major bone of contention with many political parties including BJP, Congress and other regional players. It had been used as an agendum for campaign by political parties and had played a major role in deciding BJP’s return to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Before the Lok Sabha elections, the bill was tabled in Lok Sabha but later because of the protests across the northeast the bill was not introduced in Rajya Sabha.
Even then the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was enthusiastic and lastly they passed the bill in both the houses on 9th and 11th December respectively. The obsession over the bill by the saffron party is being questioned by many sections even as Assam continues to burn.
“With the bill the BJP wants to polarise the vote banks,” said Congress leader and leader of opposition, Assam, Debabrata Saikia.
A state executive BJP member talking to G Plus under condition of anonymity explained that talking about vote banks, BJP will certainly benefit. There are many Hindus across the country who will get voting rights after the CAB is passed. The recently concluded National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam found around 19 lakh people to be illegal immigrants as their names were not figuring in the final list. The BJP leaders claim that among these 19 lakh people, around 5.5 lakhs are Hindu Bengalis. The CAB will now help these 5.5 lakh Bengali Hindus to become the citizens of the country and they will get voting rights. Who will they vote for eventually? Obviously the BJP, said the member.
The CAB makes the process of gaining Indian citizenship easier for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It relaxes the norms to apply for citizenship by reducing the 11-year requirement of Indian residency to six years for people belonging to the afore-mentioned six religious communities.
Other than northeast and especially Assam, many were celebrating the passing of CAB in the country as they will get voting rights. Many Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan will also get voting rights. In West Bengal, where the assembly elections are just around the corner, the BJP is expecting a huge voter turnaround because of CAB.
Therefore, the executive member said that there are so many such people living across the country. The vote bank will obviously increase and the bill is being calculated as a pro-Hindu bill. The Union Home minister, Amit Shah, has also announced that a national NRC will be made and the deadline is 2024. 2024 is the next Lok Sabha election and the BJP is gradually increasing its vote banks so that by 2024, the entire country is polarized, said the member.
Therefore, the protests are only seen in the northeast mainly and Assam in particular. The government has further separated Assam from other northeastern states as the states with inner line permit (ILP) – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and now Manipur- do not fall under the purview of CAB. Sates like Meghalaya will also not suffer as 97% areas are under the 6th schedule, which will not fall under CAB. Even in Assam the autonomous areas like Bodo Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD), Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills and Missing Autonomous Council fall under the 6th schedule. Therefore, these areas are not under CAB and therefore people there are not protesting.
Those opposing the CAB are of the opinion that this new law will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, according to which, the cut-off date for deportation of illegal immigrants, irrespective of religion had been set as March 24, 1971.
“We have already sacrificed for 20 years. While the entire country was taking illegal immigrants till 1951, we were taking till 1971. But now we cannot take anymore till 2014, Hindu or Muslim, migrants are migrants,” said a student Pragyan Deka.
All Assam Students’ Union advisor, Samujjal Bhattacharya, talking to media said, “We cannot accept this bill. Peaceful protests along with legal battle against the government will keep continuing.”
The entire Assamese community is against the bill as it is a threat to their language, land and culture.
“We don’t want a Tripura like situation where Tripuris are minority now,” said another student protesting the bill.
The Congress tried its best to oppose the bill but because of their weak representation in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha they failed to stop the BJP.
Now they claim they will keep opposing the bill legally.
“We will fight it legally and will support the protest against the bill,” said Congress leader Debabrata Saikia.
Now with the CAB being passed, other than Assam, the entire country is reacting normally to the bill. The Centre and the state governments are trying to douse the protests in Assam also by deploying the army, asking the police to take stringent action against the protestors, disconnecting the internet so that the protestors do not spread messages, and the protests might succumb to the actions of the authorities. The development of the country will however not benefit from the CAB but the only party that will gain is the BJP. Therefore, the party’s obsession with the bill is very clear.
