![Himanta Biswa Sarma](https://img.etimg.com/thumb/msid-108500983,width-300,height-225,imgsize-1463088,resizemode-75/himanta-biswa-sarma.jpg)
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be very insignificant law in Assam as it will provide citizenship to very small number of people in the state and in last four days or so not a single person from Assam has applied in the portal for eligible people.
Sarma while talking to media persons in Guwahati on Thursday said, “CAA is completely insignificant in Assam; the state will have the least number of applications on the portal. I am not very enthusiastic about the same. ”
The Centre on Monday notified the rules of CAA to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Sarma said, “Many people will have to reply to common people. Here people react out of emotions so many people could not understand the main point. CAA has a cut off 2014. So, suppose if you have entered Assam before 2014, then why have you not applied in the National Register of Citizens (NRC)? In other states even if people who entered in 2021 and claim that he came in 2014, there is no proof but in Assam, there is proof that one has come before 2014 since one has applied in NRC”.
He added, “Therefore people who would apply under CAA will be one of the lowest in Assam. Portal is open, every day you can see how many people from Assam have applied. This law will be completely insignificant in Assam. In the last four days or so not a single application from Assam has been made in the portal. But now many people will have to answer about the death of five youth in anti CAA protests”.
He added, “Not a single person barring those who have applied in NRC, will not be able to apply through CAA, it won't be easy for them, since in Assam there is a proper system in place already and the data of NRC is locked".
He added, “Citizenship will be granted by the central government, and it is not a state subject, the CM said. ‘We will work with reason and not emotion. After the application process is over, I will file a case in the high court seeking an answer to who was responsible for the deaths of five people during anti CAA protest,” Sarma said.
He added, “Assam is used as a corridor and even if anybody enters, he passes through it and goes to other places, as the issue has become so sensitive and debatable in the state. Besides, there are tribunals and the concept of Doubtful or ‘D’ voters here, which does not exist in the other states,” the chief minister said.
Youths from Assam are going to Gujarat and Karnataka to work as the labour rates are high there, “so why will the Bangladeshis stay here”, he said.
“The data that Bangladesh has lost 1.3 crore Hindu population gets highlighted, but the fact that Muslim population has increased to 3 crores due to conversion is not mentioned. “Our complaint is that minorities are being converted in the three countries, and it was for this reason that the CAA was enacted,” he said.
Sarma claimed that BJP and its allies will win 13 Lok Sabha seats out of 14 seats. “Only the Dhubri seat we will not win. I will not even campaign in this seat however in assembly polls we will win four assembly seats in this parliamentary seat. This election is all about making Narendra Modi Prime minister for a third term.”
NRC is an exercise to weed out illegal immigrants and is monitored by the Supreme Court. Around 3.30 crore people had applied for inclusion in the NRC, but the names of nearly 40 lakhs of them were excluded in the draft NRC published on July 30, 2018. Of them, around 36.28 lakh people had claimed for inclusion on the list and about 2 lakhs had registered their objections. They were called for subsequent hearings where provisions were made to obtain their biometric details.
The supplementary NRC list had found more than 31.1 million people eligible to be included in the registry and left out over 1.9 million people. Lakhs of people’s biometric details are locked and could not get Aadhaar cards thereby they are not able to get welfare scheme benefits.
Assam had witnessed violent protests in 2019 and early 2020 after Parliament passed the CAA, which makes minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. Five people were killed in the protests.
Sarma while talking to media persons in Guwahati on Thursday said, “CAA is completely insignificant in Assam; the state will have the least number of applications on the portal. I am not very enthusiastic about the same. ”
The Centre on Monday notified the rules of CAA to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Sarma said, “Many people will have to reply to common people. Here people react out of emotions so many people could not understand the main point. CAA has a cut off 2014. So, suppose if you have entered Assam before 2014, then why have you not applied in the National Register of Citizens (NRC)? In other states even if people who entered in 2021 and claim that he came in 2014, there is no proof but in Assam, there is proof that one has come before 2014 since one has applied in NRC”.
He added, “Therefore people who would apply under CAA will be one of the lowest in Assam. Portal is open, every day you can see how many people from Assam have applied. This law will be completely insignificant in Assam. In the last four days or so not a single application from Assam has been made in the portal. But now many people will have to answer about the death of five youth in anti CAA protests”.
He added, “Not a single person barring those who have applied in NRC, will not be able to apply through CAA, it won't be easy for them, since in Assam there is a proper system in place already and the data of NRC is locked".
He added, “Citizenship will be granted by the central government, and it is not a state subject, the CM said. ‘We will work with reason and not emotion. After the application process is over, I will file a case in the high court seeking an answer to who was responsible for the deaths of five people during anti CAA protest,” Sarma said.
He added, “Assam is used as a corridor and even if anybody enters, he passes through it and goes to other places, as the issue has become so sensitive and debatable in the state. Besides, there are tribunals and the concept of Doubtful or ‘D’ voters here, which does not exist in the other states,” the chief minister said.
Youths from Assam are going to Gujarat and Karnataka to work as the labour rates are high there, “so why will the Bangladeshis stay here”, he said.
“The data that Bangladesh has lost 1.3 crore Hindu population gets highlighted, but the fact that Muslim population has increased to 3 crores due to conversion is not mentioned. “Our complaint is that minorities are being converted in the three countries, and it was for this reason that the CAA was enacted,” he said.
Sarma claimed that BJP and its allies will win 13 Lok Sabha seats out of 14 seats. “Only the Dhubri seat we will not win. I will not even campaign in this seat however in assembly polls we will win four assembly seats in this parliamentary seat. This election is all about making Narendra Modi Prime minister for a third term.”
NRC is an exercise to weed out illegal immigrants and is monitored by the Supreme Court. Around 3.30 crore people had applied for inclusion in the NRC, but the names of nearly 40 lakhs of them were excluded in the draft NRC published on July 30, 2018. Of them, around 36.28 lakh people had claimed for inclusion on the list and about 2 lakhs had registered their objections. They were called for subsequent hearings where provisions were made to obtain their biometric details.
The supplementary NRC list had found more than 31.1 million people eligible to be included in the registry and left out over 1.9 million people. Lakhs of people’s biometric details are locked and could not get Aadhaar cards thereby they are not able to get welfare scheme benefits.
Assam had witnessed violent protests in 2019 and early 2020 after Parliament passed the CAA, which makes minority communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. Five people were killed in the protests.
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Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.