Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has no relevance in the state, as Hindu Bengalis are confident in their identity as Indian citizens and have not applied for citizenship under the new law. Speaking at a press conference, Sarma said that people from the Hindu Bengali community in Assam had come to the state prior to 1971 and are already Indian citizens as per the Assam Accord.
The Chief Minister highlighted the low number of applications received under the CAA in Assam, stating that only 12 people had applied so far, and of those, only three had been granted citizenship. He dismissed the earlier apprehensions that lakhs of people would be granted citizenship, stating that the numbers prove otherwise.
Sarma’s comments come amid protests by various political parties and organizations in Assam against the CAA. The Chief Minister reiterated that there is no reason to suspect Hindu Bengalis as foreigners, as they arrived in the state before 1971, during the Bangladesh liberation war. He also mentioned that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had brought them in 1971 and had not indicated that they would be returned.
The Assam Accord, signed in 1985, sets the cut-off date for detecting and deporting foreigners as March 24, 1971. The CAA, which was implemented in March last year, offers a fast-track route to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution.
