The unheard North East

While the rest of India thinks that the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) is unconstitutional because the act marginalizes the Muslims, the story is totally different in the case of Northeast India, especially Assam. There were 8 days of internet shutdown in Assam, because of massive students’ agitation all over the state. However, the state government claimed that they wanted to prevent the misuse of the internet, the real reason being, they did not want the rest of India to know what is going in the state. The people of the NorthEast has been a massive sufferer of the illegal migration over the years ever since India got partitioned and major states like Assam, Tripura have been severely impacted. In Tripura, the ethnicity and indigenous people of Tripura account only for 30% of the population and the rest is history. They fear that the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh will take up their land, jobs and dominate and endanger their ethnicity and culture. 

The story begins when India was partitioned into East Pakistan and West Pakistan separated by a huge expanse of Hindu dominating India. The state of Bengal was divided, and the Hindu majority became West Bengal, and the Muslim majority dominated land became East Pakistan. In 1947, the Sylhet referendum decided to severe Sylhet district from Assam and merge with East Bengal (then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh). The first nationwide National register of citizens (NRC) was published in Assam in 1951. In 1955, citizenship act was promulgated. Later, a massive population transfer began immediately after partition. Millions of Hindus migrated to India from East Bengal, a large chunk of migrants also came to Assam. In 1951 census, India recorded 2.5 to 3 million refugees from East Pakistan. 

In 1979, Assam agitation, also known as Assam movement, started against illegal immigrants in Assam. The movement led by All Assam Students Union(AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad(AAGSP) developed a program of protests to compel the Indian government to identify and expel illegal, mostly Bangladeshi, immigrants and protect and provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the indigenous Assamese people naming a few, Assamese, Bodo, Karbi, Mishing, Rabha etc.,which ended on 1985 with a tripartite agreement, known as Assam accord, between AASU, Assam Government and government of India. According to this ‘Assam Accord’ 24th march,1971 became the deadline for the people to get citizenship in Assam which would be the ground on the basis of which the people had to prove their citizenship in India through the NRC. In 1987, citizenship act was accordingly amended. However, in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was placed in the Lok Sabha. The bill proposed to give citizenship to Hindus and other minorities excluding Muslims coming to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And thus on 11th December 2019, the bill was passed and became Citizenship Amendment Act. 

The point is, however, while the rest of India is protesting because the act is not secular, the North East is protesting because they don’t want any immigrant to stay in North East be it any religion. The protests are still being carried out but in a much peaceful and non-violent way. The artists’ community of Assam is also actively participating in the protests, which they also call as satyagraha, a notion introduced by the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. The colleges of Assam have withdrawn from participating in #KheloIndia as a mark of Non-cooperation towards the centre’s CAA. The people of Northeast have always been alienated by the centre and the passage of the CAA has clearly expressed that as the people of North east were not consulted by the centre whatsoever. The people of Assam say that “we would welcome a guest in our houses, but however cannot allow them to stay in our houses”. The massive protests broke out in the Assamese language, saying “CAB aami namanu” meaning, we will not accept CAB. Slogans like “ei jui jolise, jolise, joliboi” meaning, the fire has ignited and will keep burning. The people of Assam have shown their patriotism by saying “joi aai okhom” and “etu Lachit’or dekh”(this is Lachit’s, who was a great Ahom leader, country) 

Assam has already 17 lakhs Bangladeshis’, and cannot take the baggage of another 90 lakhs Bangladeshis’, as Assam is not a dumping yard. Bringing CAA into the North East, mainly Assam will result in unemployment as the Bangladeshis’ have already taken away their jobs. Assam cannot let down the martyrs, who fought during the Assam agitation. The NRC also has no point then, what remains a question is what will the judicial review filed by Assam petitioners will result for Assam as well as North East.