A bid by the Assam government to assuage tensions over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) with a proposed legislation to protect the land rights of indigenous communities , has been received with caution.
The move to “safeguard” Assamese culture and land rights has is seen as a ploy to put an end to the anti-CAA protests.
Tribal and other indigenous groups perceived to benefit from the slew of sops, such as upgraded councils and financial packages, have welcomed the decisions but said the government needs to first clarify how it plans to implement the plan in view of demographic complications.
“The plan for creating a council for us is appreciated. But we are unaware of the concept and the area to be covered. We need to know whether it will cover all the areas inhabited by our community that has been demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and self-rule,” said Hitesh Barman, leader of the All Assam Koch-Rajbongshi Students’ Union.
“We would have been happier had the government decided to ask the Centre to repeal CAA and grant ST status to six communities,” said Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) that has been spearheading the movement against the new law. He added that the protests would continue despite the sops announced.
‘Divisive step’
Singer and activist Juthika Barua questioned the timing of the announcements. “This seems to be in line with this government's divisive policies without trying to find out what the people want. Assam’s land belongs to the Assamese who are not weak,” she said.
Nekibur Zaman, an Assamese Muslim lawyer, wondered whether the “ khilonjia (indigenous people)” would be classified on religious lines before implementing the land policy that would bar the non-indigenous or “outsiders” from owing land in the State.
A 14-member committee to define ‘Assamese’ for implementing Clause 6 of Assam Accord that offers constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people, is yet to submit its report. But Assam Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government has its own definition of khilonjia , and it does not include people who came to the State even before 1941.
“Bengalis have always been at the receiving end in Assam. There is a case for considering post-1971 (March 25 that year is the cut-off date for identifying foreigners or illegal migrants) people as non-indigenous, but one has to understand that Bengali-dominated Barak Valley and undivided Goalpara (western Assam) were annexed with Assam in 1874. The land policy plan is very disturbing for us,” said Nitish Bhattacharjee, president of the Barak Valley Bengali Sahitya Sabha, from southern Assam’s Silchar.
“The mask has come off the BJP, which brought CAA with West Bengal in mind and apparently to help the Bengalis left out of Assam’s National Register of Citizens. But like CAA, the steps taken to please communities feeling threatened because of the Act, would prove to be a bane for Bengalis,” Congress spokesperson Abhijjit Majumdar said.
“It seems majority of the Bengalis are being betrayed by the very party (BJP) they voted,” said Santanu Mukherjee, working president of All Assam Bengali Oikya Mancha. But leaders of a pro-BJP Bengali organisation said the land law would not affect them much as “very few Bengali Hindus own land unlike the migrant Muslims”.
All Assam Minority Students’ Union leader Rezaul Karim Sarkar agreed that the Bengal-origin Muslims could be targeted with the land policy as well as creation of new councils for indigenous groups covering areas where migrant Muslims live. “We will be discussing the issues for necessary action,” he told The Hindu .
Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, lawyer and former leader of All India United Democratic Front, said it would not be easy for the government to make the plan a reality to eventually make the perceived non-indigenous communities second-class or even third-class citizens. “There will be constitutional and legal options for those who could be deprived,” he said.
