Assam Assembly Erupts Over Foreigners’ Cut-Off Year as MLAs Clash Between 1951 and 1971

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Assam Assembly witnessed a ruckus over the cut-off year – 1971 or 1951 – for the deportation of foreigners from the state. 

The members of the ruling coalition favoured 1951 as the cut-off year for the deportation of foreigners, as is the case in other states in the country. On the contrary, the opposition members, mainly of the Congress, preferred 1971 to 1951. They, however, extended conditional support to 1951 as the cut-off year if the government provides the legacy data of people in the districts where the 1951 NRC is not available and in the six districts where the NRC was not prepared at all.

Kamalakshya Dey Purkayastha of the BJP moved a resolution demanding that a section of people in the Barak Valley, who had entered India at the time of the partition of Hindustan and Pakistan, should receive land pattas for the lands under their occupation under the Enemy Property Act, 1968. This Act enables and regulates the appropriation of property in India owned by Pakistani nationals. The parliament passed the Act following the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Several people from erstwhile East Bengal have been residing in 7,690 bighas of land that fall under the Enemy Property Act, 1968, in the Katigorah LAC. Since the government converted these lands to khas lands, the people residing there should get pattas for the land they occupy, the resolution said.

In the debate on this resolution, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said, “Since the partition of the country was based on Hindus and Muslims, the Hindus had every right to come to India from East Bengal, but the Muslims didn’t. We will consider those Muslims who entered India from East Bengal as foreigners.”

The Congress MLAs said that many Muslims stayed back in India at the time of partition because they loved India. “Why does the government view the progenies of those India-loving Muslims with suspicion?” the opposition rued.

Hazarika then wanted to know from the opposition members if they wanted 1951 or 1971 as the cut-off year for the deportation of foreigners. “We don’t accept 1971 as the cut-off year, as that meted out an injustice to Assam. The cut-off year should be one all over India, and that is 1951,” the minister said.

The Congress then asked the minister why the government had been taking 1971 as the cut-off year over the years. “Since the Assam government, the AASU and the central government signed an agreement taking 1971 as the cut-off year, we accept that,” a section of the opposition members said.

Meanwhile, the Congress moved a resolution demanding rehabilitation of the erosion and eviction-affected Indians. In support of the resolution, the Congress MLAs said that erosion rendered thousands of people landless, and when they settle in any area, the administration evicts them as doubtful citizens. “Without a certificate stating they are erosion-affected, these people cannot remove the doubtful tag from their identity. The government has a rule of giving land pattas to only those who have records of three generations in India. The state has thousands of people who do not have any documents of 1951. Where will these people go? This is the reason why we support 1971 as the cut-off year,” the opposition said.

Mohibur Rahman of the AIUDF and Sherman Ali Ahmed of the TMC criticised the Congress, arguing that if the successive Congress governments had provided adequate settlements to the Muslims at that time, their descendants would not have faced such a situation now. “Both Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Idris Ali held the revenue portfolio in Assam. Had they provided land pattas to the erosion-affected landless Muslims at that time, their progenies would not have faced the present harassment. The government should identify the nationality of encroachers before any eviction drive and evict only the Bangladeshis. We’ve no objection to that. However, we object to the eviction of Indians, tagging them as Bangladeshis,” Sherman Ali Ahmed said.

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