The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 and Assam Accord

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016

In recent weeks, Assam has seen many protests over the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The Bill has been termed “Anti-Assam” by BJP's ally Asom Gana Parishad, and similarly criticised by other regional parties.

What does the Bill aim for?

With The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the government plans to change the definition of illegal migrants. The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian extraction. However, the Act doesn’t have a provision for Muslim sects like Shias and Ahmediyas who also face persecution in Pakistan.

The Bill also seeks to reduce the requirement of 11 years of continuous stay in the country to six years to obtain citizenship by naturalisation.

When did this idea gain stream?

The BJP had promised to grant citizenship to Hindus persecuted in the neighbouring countries during the 2014 General Election. In the party's election manifesto, the BJP had promised to welcome Hindu refugees and give shelter to them.

Who are illegal immigrants?

According to the Citizenship Act, 1955, an illegal immigrant is one who enters India without a valid passport or with forged documents. Or, a person who stays beyond the visa permit.

Why and who all are opposing the Bill in Assam?

BJP's coalition partner Assam Gana Parishad has threatened to cut ties with the party if the Bill is passed. It considers the Bill to work against the cultural and linguistic identity of the indigenous people of the State. NGOs such as The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and students' organisation All Assam Students’ Union also have come forward opposing the Bill.

All Opposition parties, including the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front, have opposed the idea of granting citizenship to an individual on the basis of religion. It is also argued that the Bill, if made into an Act, will nullify the updated National Registration of Citizenship (NRC). The process of updating the NRC is currently underway in Assam.

What is NRC?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is meant to identify a bona fide citizen. In other words, by the order of the Supreme Court of India, NRC is being currently updated in Assam to detect Bangladeshi nationals who might have entered the State illegally after the midnight of March 24, 1971. The date was decided in the 1985 Assam Accord, which was signed between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the AASU. The NRC was first published after the 1951 Census in the independent India when parts of Assam went to the East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

The first draft of the updated list was concluded by December 31, 2017. The second draft is yet to be released.

How will the Bill affect the updated NRC list?

While Bill is designed to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees persecuted in neighbouring countries, NRC does not distinguish migrants on the basis of religion. It will consider deporting anyone who has entered the State illegally post-March 24, 1971, irrespective of their religion. Currently there are six detention camps for illegal migrants in Assam but it’s still not clear how long the people will be detained in these camps. The process of deportation or duration of detention is not clear as it has not been stated by the government. But if the Bill becomes an Act, the non-Muslims need not go through any such process, meaning this will be clearly discriminating against Muslims identified as undocumented immigrants.

Other than Assam, what are the States likely to be affected?

States sharing borders with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to be affected.

The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, an ally of the BJP, has opposed the Bill. Calling the bill "dangerous," the Meghalaya government said that they don't agree with the idea of non-Muslims acquiring citizenship after six years of living in the country.

What's the status of the Bill now?

The Bill after been discussed in the Lok Sabha, was referred to a joint select committee in August 2016. The members of the Parliamentary Committee visited Barak Valley, the Bengali-majority area of Assam, and Meghalaya to discuss it with various organisations. They reportedly spoke to about 200 organisations.

Current Scene:

The social life of Assam is in turmoil over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.

CPI (M) opposes the bill because it goes against the basic ethos of Indian Constitution.

 There is no provision for citizenship on the basis of religious identity in Indian constitution.

The debate over granting citizenship on the basis of religion is not new. It was discussed in the Constituent Assembly, but was thoroughly rejected. Now through this Bill, BJP is again trying to tinker with the secular character of our Constitution. In a sovereign state, no one has the right to ride over the constitution. That’s why CPIM and all left democratic organisations squarely oppose the bill. 

Assam Accord

The second reason of opposing the bill is specific to Assam. The Assam accord fixes March 24, 1971 as the cutoff date for identification and expulsion of foreigners in Assam. That means government of India is duty-bound for identification and expulsion of any illegal emigrant who has entered Assam on or after March 25, 1971. We should not forget the history behind fixing of this date.

The leadership of Assam agitation, started from 1979 under the joint leadership of All Assam Students Union and Asom Gana Sangram Parishad, demanded National Register of Citizenship (NRC) of 1951 to be the basis for identification and expulsion of foreigners in Assam.

CPIM and other left forces instead demanded March 24, 1971 to be the cutoff date.

Because Bangladesh was carved out of Pakistan only in 1971. It cannot be expected that it would take the responsibility of those immigrants who has migrated before its formation. So insistence on this demand would result in agony, conflict and violence only.

So fixing 1951 as cutoff year was neither practical nor desirable. So CPIM and left forces, from the very beginning, demanded March 24, 1971 to be the cutoff. For taking such position, CPIM and other left mass organisations faced severe attacks and violence.

The emerging student organisation of that time SFI had to pay heavy price in this period. No doubt, Assam Agitation had historical mass support, millions of people participated in it for six long years and faced repression by police and armed forces.

However the massive “Assam Movement” ended on August 15, 1985 with tripartite agreement, now known as the Assam Accord, between Central government, Assam government and leadership of the movement. Interestingly, the Accord came to similar conclusion as advocated by CPI(M) from the beginning. The cutoff year for identification of foreigners was fixed at 1971. On principle, even left, which had faced brutal atrocities, accepted the crux of the Assam Accord as it was crafted centering 1971 as the cutoff year, which was their official position from inception of the movement. But, anti-left brigades still spread all possible misinterpretations regarding that.

It has been 33 years now, since Assam Accord has been signed, but without any remarkable results. No practical way out was found to deport the few foreigners identified from Bangladesh. The Central government has not had any bilateral discussion with Bangladesh for deportation. Whereas in Article 5.8 in Assam Accord, government promised to do all necessary to expel foreigners (5.8 Foreigners who came to Assam on or after March 25, 1971 shall continue to be detected deleted and practical steps shall be taken to expel such foreigners). So declared foreigners are being held in detention camps in inhuman conditions. Already, there is chaos and bias in identification of the foreigners. Erecting barbed wire fencing at India-Bangladesh border is not yet completed. But none of this was actually ‘Himalayan task’. All this led people of Assam to feel being let down by the Government of India.

Such irresponsible inaction of government increased tension among various communities of Assam.  Assamese and tribal communities are being constantly haunted by the fear that at any time they would become minority in their own land if some urgent steps are not taken by the government. On the other hand, minorities are being harassed and ill-treated in various parts of the state only on the basis of mere suspicion.

Politics of the Amendment Bill:

The BJP government has other motives. They don’t want to solve the foreigners’ issue and hence don’t want the NRC to be updated. Just after the NRC updating process was started in 2015, BJP in center tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill in 2016, despite severe opposition from the people of Assam. Through this, the ruling party is eager to undo the harmonious consensus over March 24, 1971 as cutoff date. Due to the objection of the opposition parties in parliament, finally, a Joint Parliamentary Committee was set up. Since the inception of the JPC, people of Assam demanded that JPC should come to Assam instead of taking the decisions in Delhi only. But the JPC, with majority members being from BJP itself, refused to come to Assam and started functioning from Delhi itself. Only after mass unrest on the issue in Assam, the JPC finally went to Assam with three-day public hearing programme between May 7 and 9, two days at Silchar and one day at Guwahati. This visit of JPC brought the issue of the Bill to the forefront of the politics in Assam. At Guwahati, most of the organisations from Brahmaputra valley opposed the Bill, in contrast with Silchar, where most of the organisations from Barak valley supported the Bill. But, the issue now is not merely limited to public hearing on the Bill. From the next day of public hearing, whole Brahmaputra Valley was literally coming to street. Hundreds of organisations have given memorandum against the bill. The matter is no more an “issue” of political organisations only. All sorts of social stakeholders, literary forums, local clubs, women organisations and literary figures have joined in street agitations against the Bill. 

The insecurity that grips in the masses is that, if this Bill is enacted, people of Assamese linguistic nationality and tribal people of Assam will become minority in their own land. The demographic changes in Assam in last few decades also have whipped up the sense of insecurity. Though emigration is not the only cause of such demographic change, it needs to be objectively scrutinised. Anyway, since the Bill has been brought up in that particular context of already prevailing insecurity, it has created widespread anxiety among the people in Assam. That is because of the undeniable probability that the act will encourage more emigration from Bangladesh to Assam. Such emigrations will be unbearable for Assam. Already, only for Assam, the cutoff date is March 24, 1971 and the Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended for that and article 6(A) is inserted into it. So, again another chunk of emigration cannot be accepted. If the Bill gets approved in its present form, all non-Muslim emigrants till December 3, 2014 will get citizenship. But, in future too, with only changing the “Foreigner’s Order” by administrative steps, the cut-off date can be extended to any future date. However, it is also to be noted that some section wants to give such an impression that if the Bill gets passed, the entire Hindu population of Bangladesh will come to Assam. That is also an exaggeration. The entire Hindu population of Bangladesh can’t come to Assam. Such exaggeration will only make people emotionally charged and will encourage chauvinist tendencies.

In Barak valley, many people are supporting this Bill. We should not forget that the tragic past of partition is still alive in memory of many Bengali-speaking people. Many families came from ‘Sylhe’ district of East Pakistan to settle in Barak valley of Assam. Before formation of Bangladesh – in East Pakistan – atrocities or threat of atrocities on a part of the Hindu population was there. So, some sort of empathy for the Hindu population for present day Bangladesh is not very strange, particularly, when they are of the same language and religion. Even after accepting that empathy, it can be said clearly that no more emigrants can be accepted in Assam.  The consensus over the cut off as March 24, 1971 in both the valleys, Brahmaputra and Barak and among all communities can’t be put into jeopardy at any excuse.

Finally, the most important point to be understood is that, this Bill has been brought for some particular political ambitions of BJP. After being in power for four years, Modi government has failed miserably to deliver anything for people. So, the politics of communal division is the only card left with them. They are playing that card in different style in different regions. This Bill is one of them, particularly targeting Assam, West Bengal and Tripura. BJP does not care that the peace harmony and communal integrity in a state or region can be at peril for its narrow political interest. People of Assam or India have to stand above chauvinism and all kind of sectarianism to defeat that political ploy of BJP. If today people of Assam or these three states failed to do so, there is high probability that communal tension or conflict will hamstring harmonious life of different communities.  That will be the biggest success for the communal politics of BJP. Therefore it is high time that people from all communities should oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill unitedly without giving any space to any kind of divisive tendency.

 

 

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