Assam: AASU launch mass stir against Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016

The Central government's decision to revise the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 to grant citizenship to the persecuted Hindu migrants from Bangladesh is facing stiff opposition in the BJP-ruled state of Assam. As many as 26 ethnic organisations, along with influential All Assam Students Union (AASU), have launched a statewide stir to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 which they say directly contradicts the historic Assam Accord which was signed in 1985 between AASU, Centre and state.

These groups say the Bill of 2016 is directly conflicting  the 1985 Assam Accord, which prohibits citizenship to any person whether Hindu or Muslim if found having entered the state from Bangladesh after March 24, 1971.The bill is likely to be presented for debate in the winter session of Parliament next month. It gives the right of citizenship to Hindus who claim they are fleeing persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Even the BJP's alliance partner, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), said, it will not allow the dilution of clauses of Assam Accord and wants every illegal migrants irrespective of caste and religion to leave Assam."There cannot be a selective approach. We are committed to protecting the Assam Accord, which stipulates that anyone illegally entering Assam has to be deported to the countries of origin," Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, senior leader Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and one of the signatories of Assam Accord told reporters in Guwahati.

Many MPs at the parliamentary select committee  now examining the clauses of the new bill have also voiced opposition. If passed, the bill would give the right of Indian citizenship to over 150,000 Bangladeshi Hindus who are currently residing in Assam and many more that would enter without any valid documents. The state Congress, has also threatened to join the statewide stir. The move is sowing dissensions between Hindu Bengali and Assamese leaders. The BJP, however, defended its move, saying the bill would ensure that Assam does not become a Muslim-majority state."India is a natural home for persecuted Hindus. Where will they go? And granting citizenship to Hindu Bengalis will benefit Assam as it would stop Muslims from becoming [a] majority," Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP's senior cabinet minister said.