Dump the Citizen Bill

By now, the Union government should have got a fairly good idea of the strong opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 all over Assam. In fact, there are also BJP members in Assam who are strongly opposed the Bill that will do incalculable harm to the demographic composition of the State. In the first place, the Centre cannot even think of ecting an amendment to our citizenship laws that is based on religion without first amending the Indian Constitution that is committed to secularism. Secondly, since the Centre has not approached the States of Bengal and Tripura (the two Bengali-speaking States of India) to accept the major share of the burden of Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh, it should be quite clear to anyone that the Centre intends to compel Assam to take the entire burden of Bangladeshi Hindus who will migrate to India or are already in Assam in large numbers. And even though the Centre has not sought the views of Bengal and Tripura on this issue, these two States have already made it clear that they will not accept the additiol burden of such Hindu migrants from Bangladesh. We would like to know what reasons Assam’s Agriculture Minister Atul Bora has to hope that the BJP would reconsider the issue in the greater interests of the State. This mischievous amendment to the citizenship law is obviously at the behest of the ‘Greater Bengal’ activists who seem to have acquired an unholy grip over the corridors of power in New Delhi to expand the horizons of present Bengal at the cost of Assam. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will have to be challenged in the Supreme Court without delay.