Guwahati: Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), a forum against illegal immigrants, has observed that with the omission of any reference to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the BJP’s Lok Sabha election manifesto, the aspirations of the indigenous people in Assam and Northeast of protecting their identity has taken a hit.
“The net result of dropping NRC from the agenda is that the people of Assam are worse off after conducting a mass agitation where 855 persons were martyred,” PVM convenor and Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika said on Tuesday.
Hazarika further observed that if the Assam Agitation had not taken place, the cut-off date for granting citizenship to migrants from erstwhile Pakistan would have been July 19, 1948, and not March 25, 1971, as per the Assam Accord.
“Besides, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) IMDT Act, 1983 (which provided special protection against harassment to the “minorities” affected by the Assam Agitation and was applicable only to the state of Assam) would not have been legislated (had the mass agitation not taken place). The process of identification of a foreigner would have been like the rest of the country through the law enforcement authorities, namely the police, and not through adjudication by Tribunals, making the process more protracted and difficult,” the PVM convenor said.
“The NRC process also, (had the Assam Agitation not taken place), would not have been necessary, enabling foreigners to forge documents and get their names included. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which grants citizenship to a class of foreigners, already adding to the burden of infiltrators in Assam, would probably not have been promulgated. The blame squarely lies on the leaders that are elected. Though being indigenous, in their greed for power, they sacrifice their community to grab the Bangladeshi vote bank,” Hazarika alleged.
“For Assam, which is on its way to becoming a Bangladeshi origin-majority state between 2040 to 2051 (according to three studies), the NRC represented the last hope of the indigenous people, sifting citizen from non-citizen and also being a database for legal safeguards for those who were citizens in 1951,” PVM convenor and Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika said on Tuesday.
“The Congress encouraged infiltration from Bangladesh, post-independence constituting its core vote bank and it took a six-year-long mass movement to translate into the Assam Accord where Assam shouldered the burden of granting citizenship to infiltrators up to 1971. Even thereafter, infiltration continued and abated, resulting in an estimated 80 lakh after 1971, which is 25 percent of the state’s population,” Hazarika said.
He further stated that the BJP had taken up the NRC process, opposed by the Congress, as its prime agenda for the Northeast.
“The 2019 election manifesto of the BJP recorded – “There has been a huge change in the cultural and linguistic identity of some areas due to illegal immigration, resulting in an adverse impact on local people’s livelihood and employment. We will expeditiously complete the National Register of Citizens process in these areas on priority. In the future, we will implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.”
“It is important that the manifesto recorded a commitment to not only drive out foreigners but also safeguard the identity of the indigenous population. The central government-constituted Committee under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord gave recommendations for the reservation of land, jobs, etc. based on the NRC database of 1951. In other words, those who were citizens in 1951 and residents of Assam would get the benefit of resources being reserved for them, being a disincentive to economic migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan / Bangladesh,” Hazarika said.
Dear Reader,
Every day, our team at EastMojo travels through rain, rough roads, and remote hills to bring you stories that matter – stories from your town, your people, your Northeast.
We do this because we believe in truthful, independent journalism. No big corporate backing, no government pressure – just honest reporting by local journalists who live and breathe the same air you do.
But to keep doing this work, we need you. Your small contribution helps us pay our reporters fairly, reach places others ignore, and keep asking the tough questions.
If you believe the Northeast deserves its own fearless voice, stand with us.
Support independent journalism. Be a Member.
Thank you,
Karma Paljor
Editor-in-Chief, eastmojo.com
Significantly, the BJP manifesto for 2024 continues the commitment to CAA by saying, “We have taken the historic step of enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and will implement it to confer citizenship to all eligible persons.”.
“The only solution towards safeguarding the indigenous in Assam is through re-verification of the NRC. All the documents have been digitised. The former NRC Assam coordinator Hitesh Dev Sharma had given a detailed report on the manner of subversion and the process of re-verification. A correct NRC, particularly the database of 1951, compiling the names of citizens, residents of Assam in 1951, will provide the database for granting legal safeguards for preserving their identity, ownership of land and other resources,” he noted.
Also Read | Assam CM announces PRCs for Assamese-origin Arunachal residents