Citizenship (Amendment) Bill brings back the foreigner debate in Assam

GUWAHATI: The public suggestions sought on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, by a parliamentary panel has rekindled the debate on ‘foreigners' in Assam. The Congress has said that it favours implementation of the 1985 Assam Accord, which stipulates 1971 as the cutoff date for detection and deportation of foreigners.

Prior to the assembly elections, then Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had sought refugee status for those who had come to India from Bangladesh under compulsion.

Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has, however, said India will have to accept Hindus forced to leave from different countries as they have 'no other place to go,' while Muslims and Christians have 'several places to go.' Religious identity has not been used to discriminate asylum-seekers, generally, by any nation.

"Those Hindus who are persecuted due to religion cannot go to America and Pakistan, has no other place to go except India. So we have to accept them," Sarma claimed.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, as introduced in the Lok Sabha, has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee of both the Houses, under the chairmanship of Dr Satyapal Singh for examination and presenting a report to the Parliament.

The bill introduced in the Lok Sabha by the home minister proposes to make minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for applying for Indian citizenship.

Former chief minister and leader of Asom Gana Parishad, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has opposed the move to give citizenship to Hindu Bengali and said Assam has already taken enough burdens of refugees. It cannot take any further for now it is overpopulated.