Guwahati: The Assam government is sparing no effort to quell protests against the-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) as parts of the state witnessed demonstrations and sloganeering against the central government’s implementation of the act.
The implementation of the CAA — which had triggered large-scale protests in the state in 2019, when it was introduced as a bill and passed into law — will ensure Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 31 December 2014.
Since Monday, when the rules for the act were notified, people in Assam have taken to the streets — from Nalbari to Dibrugarh, Guwahati to Golaghat — vowing to continue their demonstrations until the law is withdrawn by the government. Opposition parties in the state have also condemned the move.
Much like the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Bill movement in 2019 in Assam, protesters have once again adopted the rallying cry “CAA Aami Namanu (We will not accept the CAA)” and “Joi Aai Asom (Victory to Mother Assam)” besides anti-government slogans to express their resentment.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has announced a series of agitation programmes as part of a mass ‘satyagraha’ movement.
The AASU, with support from 30 ethnic organisations and other student bodies, including the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), will be taking out torch rallies across the state Tuesday in protest against the legislation.
On Tuesday, the AASU, the AJYCP and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) — a peasant organisation — staged sit-in-protests in Golaghat district. Protesters also formed a human chain.
Protests were also organised in Golaghat Monday by the Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal.
Of the 247 petitions against the CAA from across the country over the years, 53 are from Assam and the north-east, including 50 petitions from Assam. The first petition from north-east India in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA was submitted by the AASU. An AASU team led by adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya left for New Delhi Tuesday to follow up the legal process.
“The anti-CAA movement will continue and we will not step back at a time when the Assamese community is facing an existential crisis,” AJYCP spokesperson Palash Changmai told mediapersons Monday.
The United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA) — a coalition of 16 parties leading the movement against the CAA — had also called for a day-long ’Sarbatmak Hartal’ Tuesday.
The call has, however, failed to garner a response from the masses as shops and establishments remain open in the capital city and other places. Traffic movement is regular without any disruptions. A few protesters of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee gathered in protest outside the Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati Tuesday, but no untoward incident has been reported.
The police commissionerate in Guwahati has issued legal notices to the constituents of UOFA, ordering the organisations and political parties to withdraw the strike — and “cooperate in maintaining peace in the state,” failing which the police have threatened legal action.
Speaking to ThePrint, Assam Director General of Police G.P. Singh said that the state machinery is watching, and would “deal firmly with anyone breaking law, and going against earlier judicial pronouncements regarding disrupting public life, blockades and bandhs.”
Singh referred to a judgment of the Gauhati High Court on 19 March 2019, which said “road blockades and rail blockades are nothing but variants of bandh; therefore, those are also illegal and unconstitutional.”
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Protests across state
Ahead of the central government’s announcement of the rules, the AASU with the support of 30 ethnic organisations staged a 12-hour hunger strike Sunday.
The organisations also held commemoration programmes and prayer services in memory of the five persons — Sam Stafford, Dipanjal Das, Abdul Alim, Ishwar Nayak and Dwijendra Panging — who died of gunshot wounds as protests against the CAA turned violent in 2019.
On Sunday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that any political party violating court directives could be de-registered.
“If the Gauhati High Court issued directives against calling bandhs and shutdowns, and if the political parties are found doing so, we will notify the Election Commission,” he said.
Sarma also drew a comparison with the circumstances under which the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) (IMDT) Act — introduced for the detection and deportation of illegal migrants who had entered India on or after March 25, 1971— was scrapped in Assam and said, “It was not through andolan (movements), but logic — if the SC is convinced that arguments against CAA are strong, the act may be scrapped. That’s a democratic process.”
“This is only the rules that have now been notified, the act was passed long ago,” the chief minister added.
‘Black Day for people of Assam’
Meanwhile, releasing a statement on social media, Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) chief and general secretary of UOFA Lurinjyoti Gogoi termed it a “Black Day” for the people of Assam.
“New Delhi has ignored the emotions, sentiments, sacrifice and self-respect of the people of Assam by notifying the rules of the CAA. It will push Assam’s language, culture and economy to destruction. We will remember this injustice and also the leaders who stayed silent in their support of this legislation — former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and current CM Himanta Biswa Sarma,” Gogoi said in his statement.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Assam also issued a press statement alleging that the Modi government had tried to destroy the ethnicity of the indigenous tribes of Assam by bringing about this legislation.
In a statement Monday, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia said the legislation violates the spirit of the Assam Accord, which was signed on 15 August 1985 between the Union government and the leaders of the AASU and the regional political party, All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) that came into existence in August 1979.
The Assam Accord promised that all immigrants who had arrived in Assam after 1965 would be disenfranchised, and those who arrived after 1971 would be deported.
Apart from promises to accelerate the economic development of Assam, certain legislative and administrative safeguards were also promised by the central government to protect the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the people.
“The Centre has declared that the CAA 2019 has been imposed all over the country, including Assam. This new Aact will now allow anyone coming to Assam or India (till 31 December 2014) to stay here, buy land and property, and enjoy all facilities. This is against the Assam Accord,” Saikia said.
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‘Invisible strong undercurrents’
Speaking to ThePrint, former Assam DGP and writer Harekrishna Deka said that the discontent against the government might have apparently weakened on the political surface, but there are “invisible strong undercurrents.”
“I don’t see the protest shaping up strongly now. But if the next census shows that Assamese and Bodo language speakers have become minority compared to Bengali-speaking people, there may be a volatile situation,” he said.
“Further, if the next census shows that the percentage of ethnic population has further been reduced resulting in erosion of their political space, a centrifugal force may manifest strongly to complicate the federal structure here. Though the issues of Manipur and Assam are different, its fault line may equally be complicated and disruptive in the near future,” Deka added.
He also said that Clause VI of the Assam Accord regarding constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people of Assam had been “soft-pedalled by the Centre for long.”
“This issue will now come to the fore and the delaying tactics may complicate the politico-social scene, the consequence of which is still unknown, but may disrupt the social cohesion between the ‘locals’ and those who are considered ‘outsiders’. The probable scenario can’t be brushed under the carpet dismissively,” Deka said.
The CAA does not apply to the tribal areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya because of them being included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Areas that fall under the Inner Line Permit notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, will also be outside the act’s purview. This keeps almost all of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland out of the ambit of the act.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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