ASSAM - OPPOSE CRIMINALIZATION OF CITIZENSHIP.
{This article is
published in ‘CLASS STRUGGLE’ the Organ of CPI(ML) CC}
The Tag of
‘Foreigners” attached to a section of people who migrated to
Assam decades back continues to be a convenient tool for the parties
of ruling classes to harass the concerned people.
Assam is a State
where the National Register of Citizens was first prepared in 1951. A
Citizenship Act was enacted in 1955. But the list of citizenship was
not updated for a long time.
Assam attracted a
good chunk of the masses of peasants and tea plantation workers from
West Bengal at various times. Many of them made Assam as their
permanent residence. In the context of the 1971 war, many people from
the bordering villages of present Bangla Desh had migrated to Assam.
The Indian Govt. had opened the doors of Assam for them.
In 1979 the AASU and
AGSP led an agitation in Assam demanding the identification and
deportation of foreigners from Assam. There reflected the tendencies
of viewing even the people from West Bengal as foreigners. The
agitation took a violent form and went on for six years. At last, the
Rajive Gandhi Govt. at the Center and the AASU and AGSP – signed an
Assam Peace Accord on Aug 15, 1985. This Accord said that anyone who
came to Assam after the midnight of Mar 24, 1971 will be considered
as a “foreigner.” The State Govt. must ‘detect and deport’
the illegal immigrants. However, the successive govt. in the state
made little progress in their job. In 2005, the Central and state
Govt. and AASU had signed another Agreement. It mandated the updating
of NRC at the earliest. But this work was stopped in the half way. On
the petition of a NGO, the Supreme Court had directed the state Govt.
to complete the work.
While the job of
updating the lists of NRC was still incomplete, the BJP Govt. at the
Center came to the fore to give a dangerous twist to the problem. It
introduced a “ Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliamenin2016 to
amend the 1955 Act. This Bill has triggered off serious objections
from the Opposition. The BJP Govt. was forced to send this Bill to
the Joint Select Committee of Parliament in Aug’ 2016.
At the midnight on
Dec 31, 2017, a first Draft of the Updated NRC was published in
Assam. It noted that 13.9 million names out of 32.9 million are under
scrutiny. Those whose names are under the scrutiny or missing are
worried about their status. The State Govt. assures that there is no
reason to panic as there is scope for corrections even after the
final draft is out.
The BJP Govt’s
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 proposes to grant citizenship to
‘religious minorities’, barring the Muslims. It considers Hindu,
Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangla Desh,
Afghanistan and Pakistan as eligible for citizenship. Here is a move
to discriminate people based on religion and communalise the whole
citizenship granting exercise. It is also a move by the Sangh Parivar
to smuggle the idea of Hindu Nation from a back door.
Thus the granting of
citizenship in Assam was complicated and made a never ending
exercise. All these years, the ruling classes and Govts used the
undetermined status of many to subject to various harassments,
inequality and deny them the rights and evict them from the lands.
They also used the insecure status of migrant people to reap votes
out of it. Now the BJP’s move to exclude the Muslim migrants from
the eligibility of citizenship pushes them into a most pathetic
state. The democratic forces must oppose this policy tooth and nail
and standby the just right of the Muslim people for Citizenship.
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