Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he would resign if any person who has not applied for inclusion in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) gets citizenship via the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019.
The rules of the CAA were notified on Monday evening, four years after Parliament green-signalled the piece of legislation. The Act allows non-Muslims who fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and took refuge in India by December 31, 2014, to get citizenship faster than the normal process.
“As a son of Assam, I will be the first person to resign if a single person who has not applied for NRC gets citizenship through the CAA,” the Chief Minister said.
The NRC of 1951 was updated in Assam by August 2019 with the complete draft excluding 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants for the lack of adequate documents to prove their citizenship. A sizeable number of those excluded are believed to be non-Muslims who came to Assam from Bangladesh.
Opposition political parties and some organisations representing indigenous communities claim the implementation of the CAA would open the floodgates for foreigners, especially from Bangladesh, to enter Assam in waves.
“Application for citizenship through the CAA has been made online. The dedicated portal will contain all the data for those opposing the Act to find out if their claim stands or not,” Dr. Sarma said, insisting nothing new has been included in the CAA since it was enacted in 2019.
He said only those refugees who have been living in India before January 2015 would be eligible to apply under the CAA. “The number will be very minimal as very few would identify themselves as foreigners to apply for citizenship,” he added.
Legal notice
On the evening of March 11, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) in Guwahati served a legal notice to the leaders of each of the 16 political parties comprising the United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA) for calling a 12 hour ‘sarbatmak hartal’ (complete strike) from 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Although hartal translates into strike, the UOFA said its call was for non-cooperation with the government.
The leaders served notice included State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah, his Trinamool Congress counterpart Ripun Bora, Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi, CPI(M) leader Suprakash Talukdar, and Lurinjyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad.
“...as a result of the ‘sarbatmak hartal’, there is every likelihood of breach of peace and security leading to disruption of the normal life of peace-loving citizens in the state. The ‘sarbatmak hartal’ is likely to lead to road blockade, forceful closure of shops, and other business establishment, damage to public and private property including railway/NHAI, thereby disrupting the delivery of essential services,” the notice read.
Terming the protests as illegal and unconstitutional according to the judgments of various courts, including the Gauhati High Court, the notice warned the leaders that any damage to public and private properties would be recovered from them and their organisations.
