Any CAB Impact?

Following the massive victory of the BJP in the Northeast, particularly in Assam, one would ponder as to whether the agitation against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) has had any impact on the voters of the region. The agitation was centred on the premise that the Bill, if passed by Parliament, would endanger the very existence of the natives of the region. Assam, in particular, witnessed a huge and sustained movement against the proposed legislation. The fears were genuine. After all, let us not forget that illegal immigration from Bangladesh to Assam has had a hugely debilitating impact on the very existence of the sons of the soil. When the Supreme Court abrogated the IM(DT) Act in 2005, it called illegal immigration from Bangladesh to Assam an act of aggression. Well, it is due solely to immigration from Bangladesh – and before, from the erstwhile East Pakistan – that districts like Nagaon, Barpeta, Dhubri, Hailakandi, Goalpara and Karimganj have just one community as a majority as against the natives who have been reduced to a minority. But the BJP leadership, during its campaign for the general elections, made it crystal clear that if voted to power again, it would bring back CAB so that the persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh could be given Indian citizenship. It was clearly against the very spirit of the movement against CAB – a movement that seemed to resonate quite well with the feelings of the indigenous people. However, the BJP has been mandated by the people of Assam, it being far superior to the Congress in terms of both promise and performance. So what went wrong for the Congress? Is it all because of weak organizational strategies – weak grassroots-level leaders and workers? Or is it because the top leadership was so very incompetent of scripting a convincing narrative? Or is it because the people of the State are just not willing to vote for the Congress overwhelmingly because they do not see any promise in the party, nor are they willing to believe what the party says? This is a defining moment for the Congress in Assam as well as in the rest of the Northeast. Nothing seems to be working for the party. There is a lot of homework that the party should now do – both sincerely and seriously – lest it should be thrown into the dustbin of history.