Assam cleaved over ethnic identity as the northeast erupts in protests against CAB

Anger and apprehension gathered over northeastern states as NESO, an umbrella organisation of students in the restive region, announced a shutdown over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, despite Home Minister Amit Shah's painstaking efforts to allay their fears.

Assam and Tripura, two of the eight states that comprise the region which shares international boundaries with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan, ignited with protests, despite Shah's claim that the bill is not against Muslims, but infiltrators. An organisation by the name of CoMSO burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during their anti-CAB demonstration outside the BJP office in Shillong. 

Over the past weeks, the home ministry had held marathon talks with leaders of socio-cultural bodies, students' organisations and political parties from the northeastern states on the bills. Those invited for discussions included North East Students' Organisation, All Bodo Students' Union and students bodies from Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Leaders of several political parties—both regional and state chiefs of national political parties—and heads of socio-cultural organisations were also invited for the discussions. The home ministry convened the meetings in the wake of strong protests registered by many organisations against the bill in the northeast. 

On November 28, twelve non-BJP MPs from the region urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exclude the northeastern states from the purview of the bill, saying if it comes into effect, the tribal population of the region will be vulnerable to displacement.

The Manipur People Against CAB (Manpac), which was spearheading the agitation in the state, had announced suspension of stir, after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said they would be brought under Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime. There were reports that the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime areasm, and those regions which are governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, will be exempt from the bill. 

On one hand, there was the 48-hour Assam bandh called by the All Moran Students' Union (AMSU) to protest against the bill, and seek Scheduled Tribe status for six communities, affecting normal life in several parts of the state. Hundreds of men, women and children poured into streets of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Majuli, Morigaon, Bongaigaon, Udalguri, Kokrajhar and Baksa districts, burning discarded tyres and blocking highways. Police wielded batons in Dibrugarh and Guwahati to break up protests and some state-run long-distance buses plied under police protection. Sentinel Assam reported that police and security personnel were caught off guard when protestors from Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) blocked the main entrance to the Janata Bhawan at highly secure Dispur, staging anti-CAB protests. 

Foreign and domestic tourists at Kaziranga National Park were stranded. Most markets and financial institutions were closed, but Assam appeared cleaved over ethnic and linguistic identities, with people in Bengali-dominated Barak valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, as also the hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, going about their lives normally.

Protesters took out 'funeral processions' of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for his alleged failure to oppose the CAB, which people in northeastern states apprehend will take away their distinct identity, culture, and change the region's demography. Protests against CAB were also held in Tripura capital Agartala and parts of West Bengal.

In Assam, deeply divided over National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise that seeks to weed out illegal immigrants, the CAB is facing stiff resistance as people feel it will nullify the provisions of the Assam accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

Those in the vanguard of these protests in Assam have been insisting that the state was already encumbered with the burden of lakhs of people who entered India, particularly from Bangladesh, during and after the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

The North East Students Organisation (NESO), the apex organisation of student bodies of the region, had called an 11-hour northeast bandh from 5am today. Nagaland, where the Hornbill Festival is on, has been exempted. Parties and organisations such as the Congress, AIUDF, All Assam Students Union, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union, Khasi Students Union and the Naga Students Federation are backing the NESO to observe the bandh. 

According to the new Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, non-Muslim minorities—Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Sikhs—who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be accorded Indian citizenship.

-Inputs from PTI