Before it goes beyond control

The present agitation in Assam against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 does not seem to be going in the right direction. If one organisation or group is calling one particular kind of protest, then another one is calling a different kind. This is happening because some groups and organisations have adopted an attitude of competing with some other groups and organisations in their attempts to prove themselves to be more patriotic than the others. One group had even threatened a few individuals – and they were some of the highly respectable members of the society – of social boycott while trying to register their anguish against the BJP-led government at the Centre over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Unlike the Assam movement of 1979-85 when the overall leadership of the agitation was in the hands of a joint or common platform called the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad which itself was convened by the All Assam Students’ Union, the present agitation has too many players, each trying to score a point over the others. This is definitely not a very healthy sign.

The presence of a large number of organisations has created a lot of confusion among the common people of the state. What has caused more confusion is the fact that many of the individuals who are vying to occupy space in the front rows of the present agitation for protecting the identity of the Assamese people from the onslaught of illegal migrants, had, during the Assam movement of 1979-85 denied that there was any illegal migration to Assam at all. Moreover, there are individuals who had opposed the eviction of encroachers from Kaziranga National Park, many of whom were of doubtful origin, and descendants of illegal migrants of East Pakistan or Bangladesh if not illegal migrants themselves.

Common people across the state have begun to wonder if the state really needs so many organisations and so many leaders. Where have so many organisations sprung up from? Where do these people get funds to run these organisations? What are the sources of income of these leaders? Why cannot all of them actually merge into one entity or organisation and make it more viable and more credible?

The government and the main ruling party, taking full advantage of this scenario where over one hundred organisations with equal number of ‘leaders’ vie among themselves for media space, has started crrying out a systematic campaign against them. The sole intention is to discredit the ‘leaders’ of these numerous organisations, drive a wedge among them, divide them and thus weaken the agitation against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The government and the ruling party has also started taking advantage of using social media to weaken the agitation by spreading all kinds of ‘facts and fiction’. This is happening because of the multiplicity of ‘leaders’, which in turn is creating a situation where there are enough scope to misguide the people against the actual issue.

Why cannot all the organisations opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill come to one common platform or under one common umbrella? Why cannot the common people be spared of multiplicity of agitational programmes? Why cannot these organisations create a common voice against the common issue? Isn’t it high time the leaders of these numerous organisations and groups sit down together, decide on a common strategy and common agitational programme under one single credible leader or a presidium of credible leaders so the main battle is not lost? Is it also not important to create an atmosphere of debate and discussion so that on one hand the central government is explained in clear terms why the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill should not be passed and how it adversely affects the identity and very existence of the Assamese and other indigenous communities of Assam? Isn’t it high time the bonafide Indian Bengalis of Assam – irrespective of whether they are Hindus or Muslims – are told that this agitation is not against them, but only against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that intends to divide the infiltrators on religious lines? Since the mood of the BJP government is similar to that of the Congress when it had imposed the IMDT Act way back in 1983, isn’t it time to ponder that this agitation will have to be run for a long time? Isn’t it high time to take precautions against the possible attempts of the BJP government to divide and crush the movement the way in which the then Congress governments of Indira Gandhi and Hiteswar Saikia had attempted during 1979-85?