No respite from CAA threat to NE denizens
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 19, 2022 -

WEEKS after Union home minister Amit Shah announced that due process for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be initiated after completion of administration of the Covid-19 precautionary doses, student bodies in the northeast region carried out simultaneous anti-CAA demonstration on Wednesday under the banner of Northeast Students' Organisation (NESO).

Resumption of the agitation signifies that the legislation that aims at granting Indian citizenship to religious minorities from the neighbouring countries is not acceptable to either the NESO or the student organisations affiliated to it regardless of the explanations given by both central and state governments that genesis for bringing the CAA is to ensure a safe haven for religious minorities who are being mistreated and persecuted.

With exception of the political class, such an explanation has not impressed the northeast denizens, especially the student bodies which had been at the forefront of many a public movement in the region on varied issues.

In fact, the Act has even put the non-NDA political parties in a tight corner for they are understandably apprehensive that opposing the legislation would project them as inhumane and ignorant of human rights violations of minority communities in the neighbouring countries.

Thus, it is only natural that opposition parties are opting to sit on the fence and monitor the evolving situation before taking a call on the issue.

As for student bodies of the region CAA is a serious threat to survival of the indigenous people and imminent influx from across the borders must be stopped at any cost before the situation gets further complicated.

Unlike the initial stages of the Act's formulation when the northeast region witnessed violent anti-CAA protests with Assam as the epicentre of the movement, day one of the current agitation had seen no serious disruption caused to normal life.

However, such peaceful agitations cannot be guaranteed in the days to come in case authorities concerned ignore the sentiment of the indigenes of northeast and try to implement the Act, as declared by Amit Shah.

With NESO categorically terming the contentious CAA as communal and against the indigenous people of the region and demanding its immediate revocation, along with withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers' Act (AFSPA) from the Northeast and implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in the entire region, it is obvious that without ensuring effective constitutional safeguard for the region's natives any attempt to legitimise entry of foreigners would be fiercely opposed.

As student bodies in all the seven states of the region have strong influence on the general population intensifying the agitation wouldn't be an arduous task in case NESO perceives that the centre would forcibly implement the CAA, which amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant eligibility for Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

With these countries having a notorious record of sectarianism, the NE student bodies have every reason to apprehend that the discriminated minorities would troop in to make the northeast region their new homes and therefore oppose the Act.