North East restive against Citizenship Bill

Even as the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Bill on Tuesday, the entire North-East observed a bandh in protest. Civil society in Assam, AGP which severed ties with the NDA and AASU supported the bandh, which turned violent in Tripura, where several people are reported to have receive gunshot injuries when police opened fire.

Political parties in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram have also accused BJP and the central government of betraying the people of the North East, pointing out that the amendments are against the provisions of the Assam Accord and would nullify the current exercise of finalizing a National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The amendments will allow a large number of Hindus from Bangladesh, who may have settled between 1971 and 2014, to obtain citizenship even without documents. Even more controversially, similar privilege will be denied to the Muslims, creating unrest and violating the Indian Constitution’s secular feature.

In a viral video, however, Assam BJP minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed that the purpose of the Bill was overtly political. In the video he can be heard saying that at least 17 Assembly constituencies in Assam would now be prevented from going to the ‘Jinnahs’. The video can be watched here:

Critics have pointed out that India is a secular nation and citizenship can’t be based on one’s religious identity. “Thus, there is a good chance that the Citizenship Amendment bill will fail judicial scrutiny. Add to this the fact that government has assured Bangladesh that no one will be deported after the NRC exercise. All of this points to cynical politics on part of BJP. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls the party clearly wants to shore up its core Hindu vote base, irrespective of the consequences its moves might have in the long term,” asserted a journalist based in Guwahati.

Unrest has been growing in the region and families of 855 Assam Agitation (1979-85) martyrs, given ₹5 lakh each by Sarbananda Sonowal's BJP-led government in 2016, have decided to return the award.

AASU has said that the governments at New Delhi and Dispur are betrayers, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have betrayed the people of Assam.

AASU president Dipanko Kumar Nath told the media, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to show respect to the over 860 martyrs of the Assam Agitation, and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has insulted them. He needs an ablution to rid himself of the sin he has committed.”

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “We haven’t seen any puppet Chief Minister like Sarbananda Sonowal. His words have no value. On one hand, he says he won’t allow any harm to the interests of Assam, and on the other, he keeps mum on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The people of Assam had never expected such a puppet avatar.”

An AGP team, led by party president Atul Bora, had camped in New Delhi since Sunday. They met Singh on Monday with the request that the Bill be cancelled. Bora said, “We fought a lot to get the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 cancelled. We took to the streets against the Bill. We met the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and all members of the JPC, including its chairman, against the Bill. We did all this despite being a coalition partner at Dispur. We even met the leaders of some regional and national parties and persuaded them to oppose the Bill.” But the Modi Government turned a deaf ear.