BJP in hot water as the movement against the amendment gains traction in northeastern states and distances its allies.
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An official statement released on June 7 said that the Nagaland cabinet will oppose any amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955 that goes against the interests of the Nagas and take up any such issues with the Centre.
“The Nagaland Tribes Council and the Nagaland unit of the JD(U) have also voiced their opposition to the bill and extended support to the voices of the indigenous people of Assam and other northeastern states against it,” said a report by The Telegraph.
An All India Protest Day was organised on Monday at 11 am at Parliament Street, Delhi by CPI to oppose the amendment. A series of protests and violence have rocked Assam and other northeastern states in the last few months and the support for the movement to scrap the amendment is growing. People in the northeast believe that the amendment will allow scores of migrants to settle in their land and their ancestry, identity and language will be displaced.
The Bill and BJP’s gaffes
BJP had proposed to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 in their manifesto in the 2014 general election. It determined to shelter persecuted Hindus in other countries in India by making amendments in the Citizenship Act. Many believe that it will dilute the actual bill.
“The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, grants residence and citizenship to illegal migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Christian or other religious communities coming from neighbouring countries (mostly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan) According to the bill, those migrants who arrived in India deported who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, cannot be deported or imprisoned. The proposed bill also makes the required changes so that these people can be made eligible for citizenship. It also specifies that the minimum number of years of residency in India to apply for citizenship should be lessened from at 11 to six years for such people. Interestingly, the bill’s provisions do not seem to extend to illegal Muslim migrants, as of now. Neither does it talk about other minority communities in the neighbouring countries, such as Jews, Bahais, etc,” said a report by YKA.
Regarding the issue, Samujjal Bhattacharyya, chief advisor of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in a report said, “Assam will be the worst affected because while a large number of Hindus from Bangladesh have already illegally entered the state in the past several decades, more would come and seek to stay here, in the process causing a further damage to the state’s demography and reduce the Assamese and other indigenous communities into a minority.”
The bill also seeks to cancel the registration of Overseas Citizens of India if they are found to violate any Indian law ‘for the time being in force.’ It is being said that the ruling party seeks to stifle dissent among NRIs and OCIs by threatening them with deregistration for opposing injustice and oppression in India by slapping any draconian law against them.
“The Supreme Court directed the NRC authorities to publish the final draft on 30 June. This triggered speculation about the number of Hindu and Muslim Bangladeshis who entered without valid travel documents after 24 March 1971 and are illegally staying in Assam and fail to make it in the final draft of the NRC. However, the final draft of the updated NRC is not expected to give any clear picture on the number of Hindu or Muslim Bangladeshis as the citizens’ register is not being updated on basis of religion but on the basis on Assam Accord which does not make any distinction on basis of religion and requires all post-1971 illegal Bangladeshi migrants to be identified, their names deleted from voters list and expelled from the country,” reported Firstpost. An earlier report by Sabrang India said that the bill goes against the Assam Accord and is not in the best interest of the northeastern citizens.
According to experts, The Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016) discriminates on the basis of religion. The ruling party is being accused of being a communal humanitarian and flouting refugee norms by providing easy access to citizenship for one community and refusing help to persecuted Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. The bill could also be violating Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality to all persons, citizens and foreigners.