Assam: AASU to protest MHA order extending deadline for foreigners; CM negates outcry

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The latest notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stating that persecuted communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan entering India by the end of 2024 will be allowed to stay in India has caused a stir in Assam. Organisations like AASU have expressed the apprehension that this is a step towards granting citizenship through CAA to the communities mentioned by extending the earlier deadline of 2014 to 2024. However, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has negated the outcry created by the order.

The MHA notification dated September 1 states that members of minority communities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India till December 31, 2024, to escape religious persecution, will be allowed to stay in the country without a passport or other travel documents.

 On the other hand, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which came into force last year, says that members of these persecuted minorities who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, will be granted Indian citizenship.

“A person belonging to a minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — who was compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered the country on or before December 31, 2024, without valid documents, including a passport or other travel documents, or with valid documents, including a passport or other travel documents, and the validity of such documents has expired” will be exempted from the rule of possessing a valid passport and visa to stay in the country, according to the latest order issued by the Home Ministry.

However, it is nowhere mentioned in the MHA order that these persecuted communities coming to India until December 31, 2024, will be granted citizenship. Only that they will be allowed to stay in the country without valid documents.

Regarding the apprehensions of the organisations here, the Chief Minister said that the hullabaloo created over the CAA in the state has no basis. In the two years since CAA has been in force, only three persons have acquired citizenship under the Act, and the applications by nine persons are under consideration, while 18 applications have been rejected after scrutiny. He further said that the allegations by many organisations that the implementation of CAA will lead to lakhs of Hindu Bangladeshis getting citizenship has proved to be a fallacy.

The AASU leadership has, however, stated that this order by the MHA will pave the way for all Hindu Bangladeshis entering Assam until the end of 2024 to stay here. So, they want Assam to be kept out of the purview of the order. To protest against the MHA order, AASU has planned to organise protests across the state and burn copies of the order on the streets.

AASU president Utpal Sarma said, “The latest order by the MHA is even more dangerous than CAA. The order will lead to burdening Assam with illegal Hindu Bangladeshis entering the state until December 31, 2024. We were certain that the government will extend the deadline from 2014. Assam is not the dustbin for illegal foreigners. This order is totally anti-indigenous. Our stand is clear. Those entering the state after March 24, 1971, will have to go, whether they are Hindus or Muslims. We are in consultation with legal experts on the order, and we will move the court against it.”

 Also Read: "AASU announces new agitation against immigrants in Assam "

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