There is no good reason for the enactment of CAA: Janaklal Basumatary

Our Correspondent

Kokrajhar: The president of the Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM), Janaklal Basumatary, a retired IRS officer, on Sunday said that there was no good reason for the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Basumatary said, “The CAA protest is the only partial fight against foreign demographic aggression. The defeat in the demographic aggression from 1951 to 1971 has already been accepted by the Assam Movement organizers. That was a greater loss than the small loss due to defeat in foreign demographic aggression for the CAA.” He said that maximum Hindu immigrants from Pakistan came during the 1965 Indo-Pak war and they settled in Dudnoi, Krishnai, Fakiragram, Bongaigaon, Basugaon, Bijni, and Mangaldoi. He said that those were all tribal areas and now these immigrants had occupied almost 90 percent of business establishments in tribal areas of Assam.

“If the people of Assam really want constitutional safeguard then the only solution is to extend the NRC update from 1951. All sections of foreigners should be excluded from the NRC from 1951 to date,” he said while adding that there was no question of allowing the illegal foreigners to be enlisted from 1951 NRC to 1971 as it was illegal. Instead of asking for constitutional safeguard and protection from these illegal Pakistani immigrants, there should be an NRC update from 1951, he said. “It is not enough to protest against the granting of Indian citizenship to the Hindu Bangladeshi illegal immigrants from NRC 1971 to 2014 as they are only a small portion of illegal foreigners,” he added.

The BJSM president further said, “In any case, the reason for granting Indian citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis is very hollow. Bangladesh was created as a separate country from erstwhile East Pakistan in a civil war against West Pakistani domination with help from India. There is no reason the Hindus will migrate to India due to religious persecution in Bangladesh where the Indian government has the hold to stop such a situation as India helped them to attain freedom from West Pakistani Islamic rule.” He reiterated that there was no reason to grant Indian citizenship to the illegal Bangladeshi Hindu migrants.

The tribal leader said the Assam Movement leaders should accept their mistake to take 1971 as the base year of NRC update in the Assam Accord. They should rectify their mistake and should go for the NRC update from 1951 to get constitutional safeguards automatically. “It is meaningless that on one hand, you accept the foreign migrants as citizens of India and on the other hand, you ask for constitutional safeguards from the same migrants who have no constitutional entity. So don’t just protest against CAA but demand the government to implement NRC update from 1951. Only then the constitutional protection of the citizens of India will be guaranteed. To extend your movement from a rejection of CAA to implementing NRC update from 1951,” said Basumatary.

He added, “Let the CAA be repealed by the Supreme Court of India in honour of the Constitution of India. There is no good reason for the enactment of CAA except for increasing the prospect of the ruling party to win elections. The present ruling political party included the enactment of the CAA in their election manifesto. So it is a deliberate move to get more votes in the election. He said that this benefit of the ruling political party could not be the bonafide reason for the enactment of CAA.

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