Guwahati, Jan 07: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), 30 Ethnic Organisations of Assam and the people of Assam are opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 since the days of its Bill form in 2015. The AASU and the other organizations firmly opposed the Bill 2015 when it was referred to a parliamentary committee.
The AASU and the people of Assam oppose the Act on two main premises. AASU has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA. In fact, the AASU is the first party in opposing the Act from North East.
The first premise is that it fundamentally violates the secular preamble of our constitution. India is a secular country not only in word, but also in spirit. Our secular values are not confined to the geographical boundary of our country. Our constitution transcends our borders. That is why we are known as a democratic country in the world. It is incumbent upon us to also appear to be a secular country in our thoughts and acts beyond our borders.
The CAA goes against the secular spirit of our constitution. The Act distorts our social fabric and constraints our values. We have full faith that the Hon’ble Supreme Court will protect the secular values the country cherishes and will not allow the operation of this partisan and arbitrary Act passed by the ruling NDA. This narrative is reigning in the country among the democracy loving populace of the country.
AASU and the people of Assam oppose the CAA on another important premise. This is different from the rest of the country.
The CAA totally violates the historic Assam Accord which was signed on 15 August 1985 between the Government of India, Government of Assam and the All Assam Students’ Union and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad to solve the illegal foreigners’ problem after the historic Assam Movement. It was signed to acknowledge the threat to the identity of the indigenous people of Assam due to the unabated influx of the illegal foreigners from Bangladesh, and to move towards a solution.
Clause 5.8 of the Assam Accord is as follows:“5.8 Foreigners who came to Assam on or after 25March 1971 shall continue to be detected, deleted and expelled in accordance with law. Immediate and practical steps shall be taken to expel such foreigners.”
The constitutional date for citizenship was 19 July 1948. Anyone entering India after this date was a foreigner, irrespective of his/her religion. But Assam accected the burden of 1951 to 1971 of illegal foreigners (both Hindus and Muslims) entering Assam from the then East Pakistan. Assam accepted the burden on behalf of the country keeping in mind the national commitment, international agreements and the humanitarian consideration.
The ASSU oppose the CAA on the following grounds:
- The Assam Accord does not distinguish a foreigner on the basis of his religion.
The CAA discriminates in religion.
- Assam agreed to keep the 1951-71 stream of foreigners after regularization.
The CAA has set a new date of 31 December 2014, thereby,
- violating the core provision of Assam Accord and
- imposing an additional burden of illegal foreigners from 1971 to 2014.
The violation of the historic Assam Accord and imposition of additional burden are NOT acceptable to us. This is the cause of the present non-violent mass movement in Assam against CAA.
The Assam Accord promised safeguards for the Assamese in clause 6:
“6. Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.”
The safeguards were envisaged because Assam agreed to bear the burden of the illegal foreigners who entered Assam between 1951 and 1971.
The safeguards are NOT for imposition of the additional burden between 1971 and 2014.
The safeguards are NOT for bargaining for acceptance of the CAA.
The AASU and the people of Assam do not accept the CAA, and will never accept the CAA.
- Even though in Assam, the mass movement is peaceful and non-violent, but the Government is adopting an attitude of high handedness through aggressive and repressive measures towards the peaceful protestors resulting to the death of six (6) innocent lives (5 through police firing), scores were injured, tortured in custody, false cases were framed against the leaders and protestors, curtailment of internet freedom but at the same time the Government is keeping silent on the provocative and violent statements of the leaders of the ruling party.
- It has violated the human rights of the indigenous people of Assam by threatening their political right, culture and the overall social identity. Finally, the number matters in a democracy. When the indigenous people are over-run in numbers in the immediate future, their culture, languages and identity will lose the present status.
- The CAA has a proviso, wherein the states with Inner Line Permit regulations and 6th Schedule areas are exempted from the implementation of this Act, as it was understood on the reason that CAA is bad and will have a negative impact on the demography of these areas, so the question is ? If CAA is bad for the exempted areas, then how can it be good for the other areas of Assam? This is just a ploy to hoodwink and mislead the people.
- Assam shares a long and porous border of 268kms with Bangladesh, the illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh can enter easily into Assam as the border is not sealed and manned as it is supposed to be as per the Assam Accord. We can easily compare the fencing and guarding of the border in the West of the country to the border to the East of the country, it is an inexcusable crime on the part of the Government of India.
- The CAA has violated the UN Declaration of Rights for the Indigenous Peoples to which India is a signatory. The Declaration bars governments, the signatories, from doing anything which affects the identity and obliterates the rights of the indigenous people anywhere on the globe. The CAA will precisely inflict this injury to the indigenous people of Assam.
The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 placed practically the entire state of Assam under Inner Line Permit system before it was recently withdrawn on 11th December, 2019 which is again an act of political injustice. Assam and the whole of the North East should be placed under the Regulation to ensure that the illegal immigrants once detected in Assam as per the provision of the Assam Accord do not re-enter the region in future illegally.
AASU and people of Assam is not agitating for the sake of agitation. We want permanent solution – Scrapping of CAA and implementation of all clauses of the Assam Accord within a stipulated time frame is the solution.
The present non-violent mass movement will be broader, deeper and potentially more massive. AASU and the people of Assam are committed to a non-violent democratic and peaceful movement till the Act is repealed defying all sorts of repression and divisive politics. Said Mr Dipanka Kumar Nath President AASU and Lurinjoyti Gogoi General Secretart of AASU.
