The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, has been passed in both the houses, which makes it a law. It is a bill amending the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make illegal migrants, who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, eligible for Indian citizenship. It also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalization from 11 years to 5 years for these migrants. The Union Cabinet cleared the bill on the 4th of December 2019. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on the 10th of December 2019 and subsequently passed in the Rajya Sabha on the 11th of December 2019.
While many argue that it is unsecular and unconstitutional, as it excludes Muslims from the bill and that’s exactly how national media is portraying it since a very long time, the protests that have erupted out of Assam and other northeastern states is because of a totally different reason. We don’t want to turn into minorities in our own state. We don’t want to turn into Tripura where the indigenous population is today a minority in their own state, and this reduction happened quickly in just a decade after the Bangladesh liberation.
While BJP has clearly cherry-picked these three Muslim majority nations to polarize Indians further and to generate a general hatred for Muslims everywhere possible, the party does not acknowledge the persecution of Muslims happening in Myanmar (Rohingyas) and China (Uighur Muslims). Aren’t they our neighbours? It also fails to acknowledge the persecution of Ahmediyas in Pakistan who are not even considered Muslims in their own countries. This is all but vote bank politics!
The only thing BJP does is blame the Congress party for the partition of the country on the basis of religion. An expert in the art of lying and keeping people in the dark, the BJP forgot that the RSS was one of the major supporters of the two-nation theory in 1937. What saddens me is weakest of the weak opposition and dousing of all voices that differ from what the majority thinks. Have we become this powerless?
Some of the leading news channels have not really shown what the North East, especially Assam, is going through since the past couple of days. All they are doing is just talking and conducting debates as to how unsecular it is whilst completely forgetting the northeast as usual—just as they forget to cover us during our appalling floods that take away our vast stretches of land, homes and people year after year. The national media is not showing how Assam is burning at the moment; why Assam is burning at the moment. For Assam, it has and was never a Hindu-Muslim issue. Opposing this controversial bill was and is always from an ethnic standpoint.
Internet services in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have already been cut off, and have been banned in some parts of Assam as well. A curfew has been imposed sine die in Assam, and I’m writing this piece from Shillong in Meghalaya before the telecom services get affected here because I simply believe that this regime can go to any length to put our voices down!
Assam Agitation And Why Is Assam Boiling Now?
The Assam Agitation also popularly known as the Assam Movement was a popular movement between 1979-1985 against the illegal immigrants in Assam. It was led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad(AAGSP). Ironically, the CM Sarbananda Sonowal, who took part in the agitation from AASU in the 80s, is defending CAB today.
During this period of six years, there were 855 martyrs (the list of which is given in the website of the Assam Government), many people had to sit in their homes for two years, which affected their academics and the prospects of jobs severely. The movement came to an end officially with the signing of the Assam Accord between the leaders of the Assam Movement and the Government of India on 15 August 1985, just three weeks after signing the Rajiv-Longowal Accord.
The Northeast in general and Assam in particular, is burning at the moment because the present provisions of CAB totally go against the Assam Accord and make a joke of the tedious NRC process concluded earlier this year, which was undertaken under the supervision of the former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who also hails from Assam. The NRC was implemented to identify the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who came after March 24, 1971. Immigrants here refer to both Hindus and Muslims.
There was a huge influx into Assam and other parts of Northeast going up to many lakhs who came into India since Partition and even after Bangladesh Liberation. So there is an inherent fear among people that the ethnic Assamese will turn into a minority in their own state, which will affect their language, customs and culture. So the basis of the Assam Movement was never a religious one. For the Assamese, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, as many like to call ‘Bangladeshi Infiltrators’ is a Bangladeshi; it doesn’t matter if the person is a Hindu or a Muslim.
The CAB allegedly promises not to include the Schedule 6 areas and the areas where the ILP (Inner Line Permit) system works. Presently, in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, one needs an ILP to visit there. The basic idea of introducing ILP was to integrate the masses with the mainland slowly over time. ILP was otherwise a result of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873, which was introduced by the British keeping in mind their interests because of the natural resources like Tea, Oil and Timber discovered in the region.
Please understand that the borders along Bangladesh are very porous; it is extremely easy to cross over. For instance, last year, I went on a trip to Dawki in Meghalaya where I accidentally crossed over Sylhet in Bangladesh, and I did not even realise until I saw a signboard in Bengali. We were later chased away by the BSF Jawans. So you see there are many border areas like these which are not as well-fenced as along India-Pakistan.
I can write more on this, but it is beyond the ambit of one article. But I do want to share a few social media posts and statements given out by eminent Assamese personalities, friends and family. One such eminent personality is filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika, who has been in the news of late because of his film ‘Aamis’ which has been liked by people all over the country and the globe. Here is what he had to say:
One of my friends, Vilina was on her way to her hometown Dimapur from Sikkim. She has been stranded in Guwahati Railway Station since last evening. All the trains going to Upper Assam have been cancelled. She cannot go outside because of the curfew imposed. There is no internet connection available on her network. She has not been able to eat properly except for a few biscuits and chips since yesterday evening. She is asking me for updates every few hours.
Another senior of mine was stranded at the airport for many hours. Some of them were stranded for close to two days. There is already a shortage of food and water, and the army has been deployed everywhere. Another friend had to post this on Facebook,
“A dear friend is pregnant, nearing her due date. Instead of excitement, she asks, What am I bringing this child into?”
These are just a few stories. More than hundreds and thousands of people are suffering at the moment. My Assam is burning!