Letters to The EDITOR: Why doesn't Citizenship Bill go well with Assam?

Why doesn't Citizenship Bill go well with Assam?

It's an open secret that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is aimed at increasing the Hindu population in India vis-à-vis the Muslim population in the country. Even as the Bill takes India as a whole in a wider sense, when one narrows one's focus gown and gives up less important aspects, one practically reaches to the conclusion that - the Bill is set to increase Hindu population in Assam vis-à-vis Muslim population in the State. A few recent statements made in public by one State BJP leader, who is also a minister, bears testimony to this aim. But then, the Bill doesn't have takers in the State. Simply, it doesn't sell in Assam because of a number of factors. The Hindu-Muslim harmony in Assam can be cited as an example in rest of the country where communal tolerance is very fragile. Assam is also nicknamed as the land of Sankar-Azan, and the adage still goes strong. The immediate factor is the Assam Accord which is the outcome of the six-year-old agitation for which the State and its people had to suffer loss beyond measure. The Accord is still viewed as a cure-all pill for all that ails the State. Rightly so, the AASU and other indigenous organizations of the State are not ready to allow anything that may indent the Accord. NRC update is seen as a hard-earned measure for the State. The clash between the NRC which has taken the Assam Accord's cut-off date to detect an immigrant as a citizen of India or foreigner and the Citizenship Bill sees no solution. Assam has the example of the demography in Tripura where the indigenous people of the State have been reduced to a minority. In such a backdrop, the BJP's Hindutva agenda is incompatible in Assam. If the government at the Centre goes ahead with the controversial Bill, it will inflict a historic injury to Assam which it can never heal. Better late than never, still the government at the Centre has time to rollback its decision to go ahead with the Bill.

Topo Singha,

Milan Nagar, Barbari,

Guwahati.