Protests against CAB continue in Assam | Fusion - WeRIndia

The protests against Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Assam continued. Following the passage of the CAB, the protests turned violent and the government deployed paramilitary forces.

Several trains and flights have been cancelled due to protests. Despite the curfew, people came onto the streets and protested against the Bill.

But why is Assam opposing the bill? Its version is completely different from other people or parties that oppose the bill.

Several refugees from Bangladesh are living in Assam. With this law, they can become citizens of India and dominate Assamese in all aspects including political power.

This is similar to what happened in Tripura where Bengali-Hindu immigrants from East Bengal are now dominating political power.

The linguistic data of the Census 2011 shows that the percentage of people speaking Assamese decreased from 58 per cent to 48 per cent. But, the percentage of Bengali speakers increased from 22 per cent to 30 per cent during the same period.

The protestors also say that the Bill is a violation of the Assam Accord of 1985 that was signed between the Rajiv Gandhi government and the protesters led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU).

As per the Assam Accord of 1985, the cut-off date was set at March 25, 1971, to recognize illegal immigrants.

But, now, the cut-off date was set at December 31, 2014, in CAB. Based on the cut-off date of Assam Accord which is the basis of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 19 lakh people were left out of the country at the beginning of this year due to their failure in proving their citizenship.

Majority of them are Hindus. But, if CAB grants citizenship, how would Assamese accept them in their region as it is a violation to their agreement.

Except Assam and Tripura, other north Indian states are covered under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime.

In Assam and Tripura, only certain areas are covered under ILP and remaining areas do not have protection.

That’s why these states are boiling with protests.

Image credit: Protests at India Gate-006 image by Ramesh Lalwani is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ramesh_lalwani/8296156883