GUWAHATI:
As the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is taking up for final hearing from February 14, noted lawyer and Pravajan Virodhi Mancha (PVM-an anti-influx organization) convenor Upamanuya Hazarika questioned what would be the stand of the Centre and the Assam government on the cut-off date for granting citizenship in the state.
“What should be the cut-off date? Whether the cut-off date for the grant of citizenship to migrants/infiltrators from erstwhile East Pakistan/ Bangladesh should be July 19 1948, as prevalent for the rest of India (Article 6 of Constitution) or should it be March 25, 1971, in terms of the Assam Accord of August 15, 1985, and the consequent amendment in the Citizenship Act, 1955 by insertion of Section 6A giving statutory status to the cut-off date of March 25, 1971,” Hazarika said in a statement on January 20.
“The stand of the BJP-led government in Assam is not that of one elected on the promise of protecting the identity, land of indigenous people, rather that of a government controlled by Bangladeshi immigrants.
“The state government in an earlier affidavit filed during the tenure of the Congress government, where Himanta Biswa Sarma was the Assam Accord Implementation minister, had supported the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, which stand is reiterated in the written submission filed by the present BJP government on May 1, 2017.
“There is now yet another dimension to this that is the land policy Mission Basundhara 2.0, launched by the present Chief Minister in November 2022, in terms of which migrants from Bangladesh encroaching upon government lands of over 4,50,000 acres will be granted ownership rights only on a nominal identity proof and proof of encroachment before January 1, 2011.
“This policy, therefore, determines a new cut-off date of 2011, undermining the Constitution, Citizenship Act and the Constitution Bench hearing. The written submissions filed by the state government are reflective of a stand in favour of infiltration/immigration and against the affected local population.
“Firstly, it says that the political rights of the indigenous people are not affected by illegal migration, enabling foreigners to become voters. This argument is justified by the logic that the ‘process of the delimitation of constituencies can also be said to affect the political rights of citizens. This logic least to say is ridiculous. This is a situation where a large number of foreigners getting voting rights has increased the voting population, whereas delimitation does not increase the population excepting redefining constituencies, population remaining intact.
“Secondly, it has supported the grant of citizenship by birth to children born of foreigners in Assam because it is permissible under the existing law and further elaborates saying that it is the result of the exercise of valid power as to the inclusion of foreigners as citizens.
“Thirdly, it makes a ridiculous assertion that there is no factual foundation to show how many foreigners have been enrolled as voters, clearly contrary to the 2005 Supreme Court IMDT judgement where it is clearly stated, ‘Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbance’ on account of large scale illegal migration of Bangladeshi nationals. It is also said in the judgement that “local people of Assam have been reduced to a status of minority in certain districts.
He argued that even in the face of such a judgement the government still says that there is no factual foundation laid to show how the fundamental rights of indigenous people to preserve their language, script and culture is affected.
Fourthly, the Assam Accord prescribing a cut-off date of March 25, 1971, is justified on the ground that a large number of lives have been lost in the conflict between foreigners and local people and the Accord by conferring citizenship upon 23 years of additional immigrants from 1948 to 1971, peace was brought into the state. The logic of this argument is that all foreigners should be given citizenship to prevent strife.
The Supreme Court will pronounce on the validity of the cut-off date of March 25, 1971 only in respect of Assam, but in the meantime by notification of November 11, 2022, under the land reforms project, Mission Basundhara 2.0, the present state government has announced a scheme for grant of ownership rights upon the land which are grazing reserves to encroachers upon such land if they can prove their encroachment upon such land before January 1, 2011, over 4.5 lakh acres (14 lakh bighas).
The identity proof required is Aadhaar, Driving Licence or PAN Card, which are easily procured by Bangladeshis and bypass the NRC requirement of documents (electoral rolls before 1971, 1951 NRC legacy data etc.). Through this scheme, a new cut-off date has been now determined by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government, which undermines the entire ongoing Constitution Bench matter, the Citizenship Act and the Constitution.
“For a party which came to power on the plank of protecting the identity of the indigenous people, the stand and actions of the present BJP government in the state into its second term has been consistently in favour of Bangladeshi immigrants and raises a large number of questions,” he added.