Assam and Meghalaya Voice Opposition to the Citizenship Bill

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) began hearing views on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Assam on Monday. A part of the JPC's schedule is a visit to Shillong on May 10 and 11. What makes things interesting here is that the Meghalaya Cabinet has outright opposed the Bill, despite BJP MLA Alexander Laloo Hek being a part of the state cabinet. Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong told the press that the Bill looked dangerous. His contention was that Meghalaya is a small tribal state and that the Bill would not suit the states' interests. The Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) has declared that they would be conducting a sit-in protest against the Citizenship Bill on the first day of the JPCs visit.

The Bill, if passed in its present form, would make illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, eligible for citizenship. The Third Schedule of the present Citizenship Act provides for conditions to obtain citizenship by naturalisation. Two relevant points in this regard are that one, it does not apply to illegal immigrants, and second is that, to obtain citizenship one has to have resided in India for 12 years consecutively. The proposed amendment would reduce this time to six years. It further enforces a presumption that all such persons are persecuted minorities.

In 2015, an amendment was made to the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950. The amendment exempts “persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014” from complying with the need to produce valid documents. The 2016 amendment to the same Rules included Afghanistan in the list of the countries. These amendments set the tone for the Citizenship Bill which was first proposed in 2016.

The Citizenship Bill has been opposed primarily in Assam as stakeholders see it as an affront to the Assam Accord. The Assam Accord had been signed after the anti-outsiders agitation between 1979 and 1985. The Accord provides for March 24, 1971, as the cut-off year for determining citizenship. The ongoing process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam too uses this cut-off date. Assamese groups have submitted memorandums against the Bill in Khanapara on May 7. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an alliance partner of the BJP in the state, was among the first to submit a memorandum. The Congress too submitted a memorandum against the Bill. The All Assam Students Union (AASU) came out strongly against the Bill. Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi also expressed his opposition to the Bill as did Indigenous Forum Assam, a group comprising of several United Liberation Front of Assam (Progressive) (ULFA(P)) members. Interestingly, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a party that is often derided as one of the illegal immigrants by certain sections of Assamese society, has also spoken against the Bill and urged Akhil Gogoi to create a united front against the Bill. The AIUDF in the past too has opposed the Bill.

In the face of stiff opposition to the Bill in the Northeast, the message should be clear to the BJP-led Union Government that their religion-based rhetoric has a very little impact in a region where ethnic and linguistic politics is the mainstay. The honourable way out for the BJP in this scenario would be to either withdraw the Bill altogether or to exempt the Northeast from its application. That is unless they wish to resurrect secessionist discourse in the region.