The Citizenship Amendment Bill is just a few formalities away from taking effect. Most Opposition parties and a fairly large number of activists have vehemently opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill of the Narendra Modi government that seeks to enable non-Muslim illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship. The CAB has become a law despite their opposition.
Assam and some other parts of the Northeast have become the theatre of violent protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Protests in Assam against the Citizenship Amendment Bill have seen huge number of students joining and been so powerful that army has been called. Internet services have been suspended in 10 districts of Assam and curfew imposed in main city Guwahati. Tripura is already under internet restrictions.
But the grounds of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill for the Opposition parties and the students on the streets of Assam are vastly different.
SAME SENTIMENT, DIFFERENT CAUSE
The Opposition has opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill largely on the issue of exclusion of Muslim immigrants, calling the move discriminatory and a part of the BJP's Hindutva agenda. Simply put, the Opposition parties seem to be okay with the Citizenship Amendment Bill if the government brings Muslim migrants in the ambit of the legislation for citizenship.
In Assam, however, the protesters want none of them - neither Hindus nor Muslims if they are illegal immigrants. Their protest is mainly centred around two provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. These are:
The cut-off date for recognising the illegal immigrants as bonafide refugees and thus giving them an option of acquiring citizenship through relaxed rules
Areas in the ambit of the Citizenship Amendment Bill
The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 sets December 31, 2014 as the cut-off date for recognising the illegal immigrants as eligible refugees to acquire Indian citizenship. This, the protesters say, is a violation of the Assam Accord of 1985.
ASSAM ACCORD, NRC & CAB
Also Read: All you need to know about Citizenship Amendment Bill
The Assam Accord had been signed between the Rajiv Gandhi government of the Centre and the protesters led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU).
Under the Assam Accord, the cut-off date was set at March 25, 1971.
The Assam Accord's cut-off date was also the basis of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that was finalised earlier this year under the supervision of the Supreme Court. The NRC left out about 19 lakh people who could not prove their citizenship claim. Majority of them are said to be Hindus.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill enables the Hindu illegal immigrants from former East Pakistan and later Bangladesh to seek Indian citizenship thereby thwarting the demand of the AASU/protesters to deport all illegal migrants who entered India after the cut-off date.
So, while the government is offering citizenship to Hindus among the 19 lakh illegal immigrants, the Opposition is ready to grant citizenship to all 19 lakh illegal immigrants who were left out of the NRC, the protesters don't want a single person who was declared a non-citizen of India in the NRC exercise.
CAB LIMITED EDITION
The second issue is of the coverage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The 2016 CAB was to be enforceable in the entire country while the CAB 2019 leaves out the areas mentioned in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and also those requiring Inner Line Permit (ILP) for outsiders to visit.
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur are covered under the ILP regime. Meghalaya is also set to come under the ILP regime, which is in place since 1873, when the British implemented Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation.
The ILP allows an outsider to visit these protected areas but does not allow them to settle. The Citizenship Amendment Bill maintains the sanctity of the ILP.
Sikkim is also shielded from any impact of the Citizenship Amendment Bill by virtue of Article 371F of the Constitution which accords it a special status.
This leaves those areas of Tripura and Assam that are not protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution open to implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The hilly areas of Tripura are protected under the Sixth Schedule. Protests are being seen in the rest.
Assam, meanwhile, has become the epicentre of anti-CAB protests. The Sixth Schedule shields only seven of 33 districts of Assam. These 26 districts have major chunk of illegal immigrants - both Hindus and Muslims - primarily with their roots in today's Bangladesh.
The AASU and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti are leading the protests in Assam. Guwahati, Diburgarh, Tezpur and Tinsukia are the majorly affected areas due to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill that got Parliament's nod on Wednesday.