Thousands Throng Guwahati To Pressure Government Against Citizenship Bill

After Meghalaya and Mizoram began openly opposing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, thousands of people in Assam held demonstrations in Guwahati on Friday to pressure the state government and the Centre to withdraw the 2016-proposed legislation that seeks to change the definition of illegal migrants from three of India’s neighbours.

Members belonging to no less than 28 organisations of indigenous communities and students raised slogans and expressed loud disagreement with the Bill that was tabled in Parliament two years ago with the aim of granting citizenship to religious minorities other than Muslims of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If the governments of Meghalaya and Mizoram can take a firm decision for the interest of the people, why is the Sarbananda Sonowal government not opposing the Bill, asked the influential All Assam Students’ Union (AASU). “This Bill is against the interest of the people of the country and the state,” said Samujjal Bhattacharya, advisor of the half-century-old organisation. “We warn the Centre and ask our chief minister and his government to take a strong step in the interest of the state.”

Bhattacharya, who is also a pivotal functionary of the 2005-founded Asom Sena as a vigilante wing of the AASU, said that the biggest Northeastern state has already burdened with foreigners, forcing its people to not accept the ongoing move of the Centre to get the Bill passed. “To accept the foreigners in the name of religion is against the very secular characteristics of our Constitution,” he claimed. “Besides, it violates the (1985) Assam Accord, whose clauses have to be respected and implemented.”

That three-decade -old pact between the Rajiv Gandhi government and the Assam Movement leaders was signed following six years of violent agitation across the state to flush out the outsiders. The memorandum of settlement had fixed March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date to determine the illegality of the migrants: anyone who migrated into the state after that day cannot claim to be a citizen, irrespective of religion and caste.

Most of the organisations and opinion-makers in Assam, especially in the Brahmaputra valley, have accepted that date set by the Assam Accord. The scenario, though, is slightly different in the Barak valley dominated by Bengalis.

The 2016 Amendment Bill was sent to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to review after an opposition it faced in the Lok Sabha. Last month, when the JPC members visited Guwahati, around 300 organisations submitted memoranda expressing their opposition to the Bill.

The AASU’s Bhattacharya says the Centre is trying to mix up the update process of National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Bill. “We warn the government not to do that. The people are scared and have come out on the streets from every nook and corner of the state spontaneously,” he said, accusing CM Sonowal of having failed to provide the assurance to the people. “It’s been several months we have been protesting against the Bill. Stop testing our patience.”

All the students’ bodies of all the Northeastern states have vowed to fight together to oppose the Bill. The North East Students’ Association, which is an umbrella body of the students’ of the seven states, has already staged demonstration in Guwahati and other places against the Bill.

The Asom Gana Parishad, which is an ally of the BJP in Assam, has also been opposing the Bill. The regional outfit’s leadership has gone up to the extent that threatening to come out of the alliance if the saffron party goes ahead with the Bill.  

Earlier, on Thursday, the Congress-ruled Mizoram assembly unanimously decided to oppose the Bill. Home minister R. Lalzirliana said the proposed amendment was against the principle of secularism and it will be harmful to Mizoram.

In Meghalaya, the National People's Party while rules the government and is a BJP ally, has also opposed the Bill.