BJP ally Asom Gana Parishad walks out of alliance; Congress central and Assam leadership on different page; Protests rock Assam, nation
Stirring a hornet's nest in the Northeast, the Union Cabinet on Monday approved the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 which seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 in order to make illegal migrants from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship after six years of residence in India, halving it from the existing 12 years.
The Bill also seeks to declare them Indian citizens even if they do not possess any proper document. The move has led to widespread protests in Assam, with people in neighbouring states echoing similar dissent.
The Cabinet, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the Bill moments after a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) presented its report in the Lok Sabha endorsing the Bill. While the JPC gave the Bill a go ahead to legalise these immigrants from the minority communities who entered Assam till December 31, 2014, it also asked the government to tread carefully as the matter is sub-judice. The panel asked the government to take steps within legal purview of things so as to avoid complications later. The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Bill has led to widespread protests in Assam and also in neighbouring states like Tripura and Meghalaya. BJP's alliance partner, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) pulled out of the BJP-led government in Assam over this.
"We tried to convince the Centre that the Bill was against the Assam Accord and will nullify the ongoing updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). But (Rajnath) Singh clearly told us that it will be passed in Lok Sabha tomorrow. After this, there is no question of remaining in the alliance," Atul Bora, AGP president, said after failing to convince the Home Minister.
The protests have largely hinged on the contention that the Bill nullifies the Assam Accord, signed in 1985, as per which any foreign national, irrespective of religion, who had entered the state after 1971, should be deported.
The Bill has come under criticism that it violates Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which stipulates "constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards" for preserving the culture and identity of Assamese people. Critics have also said that the extensive exercise of updating the NRC will become null and void due to this exercise.
The move has been BJP's poll agenda since 2014. In 2016, BJP minister from Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma had told DNA that minorities of Bangladesh and Pakistan can return to India at any point as partition was imposed on them.
On Friday, while addressing a gathering in Silchar in the Barak Valey, PM Modi said the Centre is committed to passing the Bill; he added that no genuine Indian will be declared a foreigner.
"The Citizenship Bill is an atonement of the wrong that was done during India's Partition... India will safeguard all who had been victims of the Partition," he had said.
Timeline Of The Bill
- 2014: BJP promises to grant citizenship to Hindus persecuted in neighbouring countries during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign
- July 15, 2016: NDA government introduces the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, seeking to reduce the number of continuous years of stay in India needed to obtain citizenship by naturalisation from 11 to six years
- August 2016: After a discussion in the Lower House of Parliament the Bill was referred to a joint select committee
- October 23, 2018: 46 organisations in Assam called for a 12-hour statewide bandh against the Bill
- January 7, 2019: Union Cabinet clears the redrafted Bill
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 "Citizenship (Amendment) Bill protest")
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