Protesters from Assam began an indefinite hunger strike at Parliament Street on Sunday, demanding immediate scrapping of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which is due to be taken up in the coming Parliament session, beginning this Tuesday.
“Despite widespread protests in Assam against the Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party aggressively aims to pass the Bill in the coming winter session of the Parliament which will help to make their dream of the Hindu Rashtra a reality,” said a statement issued by the 70 Assamese jatiya [national] organisations which are taking part in the protest at Jantar Mantar.
The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, founded by activist Akhil Gogoi, is among the participants.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in July 2016. The protesters appealed to all political parties to oppose the Bill “for the sake of the Constitution, and its moral, legal and ethical correctness, and to protect Assam and her inhabitants from another long spell of social and political strife”.
Illegal migrant
The Bill’s provisions would make fundamental changes in citizenship and immigration norms on the basis of religion, said the statement. Minority communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — from neighbouring Muslim majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan would be excluded from the scope of the definition of being an “illegal migrant”.
Indian citizenship is currently granted on the basis of where a person is born. If the Bill is passed, warned the statement, it would result in an unconstitutional change of the premise of the citizenship system, where one acquires citizenship by blood.
“We, the people of Assam feel that the Bill will change Assam’s political, economic and social fabric forever,” said the statement.
“If the Bill passes, it will make the Assam Accord null and void. It will be a violation of the national promise. The people of Assam are afraid that the Bill will open the ways to legalise at least 2 million illegal migrants, who have been dwelling in Assam and will invite another 10 million from Bangladesh to Assam, which has been already overburdened with large-scale illegal migration.”
