Citizenship Bill will provide relief to left out Hindu Bengalis

The Bill is drawing flak from civil and students’ bodies of the Northeast.

 

NEW DELHI: The BJP is all set to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019, which had lapsed in the Rajya Sabha, during the Parliament’s winter session. According to the BJP sources, the Bill will provide relief to Hindu Bengalis in Assam who were left out of the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was published on 31 August.

According to some unofficial estimates, the number of Hindu Bengalis excluded from the NRC is around 5-8 lakh. Similarly, thousands of indigenous people have also found their names missing from the final list.

As the BJP is also pushing for the NRC in West Bengal, a party source told The Sunday Guardian that while the party is determined to throw out infiltrators by enforcing the NRC, it will also ensure the safety of non-Muslims as they will be given Indian citizenship beforehand with the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill, amending the Citizenship Act 1955, was proposed in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016. The Bill seeks to grant citizenship to religious minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had clarified to the media that non-inclusion of Muslims in the proposed Bill is because the Muslims cannot be subject to religious persecution as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are Muslim-dominated countries. Shah’s clarification came after the Citizenship Amendment Bill sparked controversy for excluding Muslims.

According to sources, the Centre may add some provision in the proposed Bill to safeguard the interest of the hilly states of the northeast, except Assam and Meghalaya.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s intent to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill has already spurred protests by students’ and civil society organisations in Assam. The All Assam Students’ Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and many other civil society bodies are protesting against the Bill as they feel it would pose a threat to the existence of the communities defined as indigenous to the region.

Lurin Jyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the All Assam Students’ Union, said: “The Citizenship Amendment Bill will nullify the very basis of the NRC. The Bill will also kill the spirit of the Assam Accord where the base year for granting citizenship in Assam is kept as 1971. We are not ready to take any extra burden of foreigners in the name of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.”

Pradyut Bordoloi, Congress MP from Assam’s Nagaon constituency, told The Sunday Guardian: “The Congress will oppose the Bill in both the Houses if the BJP tries to pass it in this Parliament winter session, as the Bill is unconstitutional.” He also alleged that the BJP is trying to use the Bill as a tool to pursue its “polarisation politics”.