Citizenship Amendment Bill why BJP is so adamant

After the abolition of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and dividing it into two Union Territories, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central Government is now ready to face the people of Northeast India by putting its seal on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). Has occurred.

The bill has been approved in the Union Cabinet and according to media reports, it is likely to be introduced in the House next week.

The bill provides for Indian citizenship to people from Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian communities who have come to India for asylum from neighbouring countries.

Although the opposition is taking a very strong stand on this bill and calling it contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, the Center has asked all MPs to be present while placing it in the House, giving it a top priority.

There has been widespread opposition to this Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Northeast of India, which aims to relax the rules for granting Indian citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from neighbouring countries Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Actually, this is the second attempt of the government to get it passed in the House. Even before this, during the first term of the Modi government, it has been passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8 this year.

But after this violent protests started in the Northeast, after which the government did not introduce it in Rajya Sabha. With the completion of the term of the government, this bill ended automatically.

The second term of Narendra Modi’s government began in May. During this period, many major decisions including Article 370 were made and now the Citizenship Amendment Bill will be introduced in Parliament once again with the approval of the Cabinet.

Protests have started in the Northeast even before it is introduced in Parliament.

Although the Citizenship Amendment Bill is to be implemented all over the country, it is being opposed in the northeastern states, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh as these states are very close to the border of Bangladesh.

In these states, there is a protest against this, that both Muslims and Hindus are allegedly settling in a large number illegally from the neighbouring state of Bangladesh.

The opposition is that the current government wants to make it easier for the migrant Hindus to take citizenship of India and settle here in favour of Hindu voters.

According to media reports, local groups in the Northeast started protesting after listing it on the agenda of the Parliament. Although there is no news of violence so far, a local Assamese newspaper ‘Assamese Khabar’ has warned in its editorial that in the event of proceeding on this bill ‘the ruling BJP will have to face the anger of the local people. ‘

It reads, “History is witness to what happens to such governments which go against the people.”

The English-speaking ‘The Pioneer’ published a protest in Assam and the burning of the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 November.

According to the ‘Assamese Daily’ report, the Northeast Student Organization (NESO), a group of eight influential students in the region, launched massive protests in all seven states.

The report quoted NESO activists as saying that the bill “will not be accepted under any circumstances”.

Other groups that have come out against it in Assam, the largest state in the northeast, include Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, youth organization Assam Jatiyabadi Youth Students Council and leftist political alliance group Left-Democratic Forum.

The bill to be introduced in the House by the government is based on two important things — first, giving Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants and second, identifying and repatriating illegal foreigners, mostly Muslims.

According to the Hindustan Times report, Home Minister Amit Shah told the House on 20 November that his government was going to implement two different citizenship-related aspects, one CAB and the other count of citizens across the country as National Citizenship Register or Also known as NRC.

Amit Shah said that the ‘CAB’ has a provision to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to India before 31 December 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan due to religious persecution.

He informed that after July 19, 1948, through NRC, the process of identifying illegal residents entering India and removing them out of the country will be completed.

The NRC was originally implemented for Assam on behalf of the Supreme Court. Under this, a register of citizens was issued in the month of August. About 19 lakh people were excluded in the published register. Those who were excluded from this list had to prove their citizenship with valid certificates.

However, Amit Shah said that Assam would rejoin the new nationwide NRC process.

According to the news website Scroll, the cut-off date was 24 March 1971 in the process of NRC adopted in Assam while in the newly proposed nationwide NRC, this date is 19 July 1948.

After all, why does the BJP want to go against the masses?

Despite widespread protests in the Northeast, the BJP’s confidence in the Citizenship Amendment Bill moving forward is mainly due to the party’s electoral success in the entire region.

When the central government was trying to get the bill passed during its first term, many groups in the northeast opposed the BJP.

But, when the 2019 election results came, the BJP and its allies performed well in the Northeast.

According to the prestigious English newspaper, The Hindu, BJP and its allies won 18 out of the 25 parliamentary seats in the entire Northeast.

Despite widespread opposition, Assam State President of BJP Ranjit Das told the Assamese daily that the people of the region are supporting his party on the issue of citizenship.

Das said, “The fear of the citizenship amendment bill has diminished among the people of Assam. By voting for the BJP in the past parliamentary and civic elections, the people of Assam have made it clear that they have no concern about the Citizenship Amendment Bill.” “

Along with this, BJP also hopes that due to easy citizenship to Hindus and non-Muslim migrants, it will get the support of a large number of Hindus.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.