How big of a problem is citizenship in Assam?
The Supreme Court has upheld the validity of a key citizenship rule that allows Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam to register themselves as Indian citizens. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud upheld the decision in a 4:1 majority. Justice JB Pardiwala dissented while the rest of the bench, including Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundaresh and Manoj Mishra, supported the bill.
The order came on a petition that said the influx of refugees from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was affecting Assam’s demographic balance. It is alleged that Section 6A of the Citizenship Act violates the political and cultural rights of the indigenous people of the state.
How did the Assam movement start?
Without a proper understanding of the Assam movement, we cannot properly understand today’s citizenship issue. In 1975, Indira Gandhi implemented a state of emergency, which was lifted in early 1977. Subsequently, elections were held across the country, and the BJP won. Among the four parties under the PPP, one was called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh later broke away from the Janata Party and was formed as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. In this context, it is very important to understand that the entire crisis in Assam is due to the actions of the Congress and the BJP. Because the country has been ruled by the Congress party from the beginning and the BJP feels that the Congress party is providing shelter to many people from Bangladesh, especially Muslims. In this case, we can say that it is more a matter of vote banks than of international affairs.
In 1977, the Morarji government was formed with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Foreign Minister, Lal Krishna Advani as Information and Broadcasting Minister, and George Fernandez as Industries Minister. In the subsequent Assam Assembly elections held in 1978, the BJP won and is now in power both at the center and in the state. This means that now this government will work more forcefully on the issue of foreigners coming to Assam and deporting them from there. This problem began to arise after the same-party governments were formed in the two places. It occurred because a special incident in 1978 made this problem obvious for the first time.
Big revelations from the 1978 Electoral Commission
Before Assam was to hold by-elections in 1978 after the death of Lok Sabha MP Hiralal Patwari, Mangaldoi MP, the Election Commission issued a statement , surprising everyone. The Electoral Commission stated that the 1971 electoral list was significantly different from the 1978 electoral list and that many people’s names were included in the electoral list at the same time. He also said that most of those included in the electoral rolls were from Bangladesh and through pressure, the names of local politicians were included in the electoral rolls. As a result, the Adivasis of Assam have begun to feel that now they will be a minority in the elections and their views will not be heard.
After 1971, when it was discovered that large numbers of people were being added to the electoral rolls, a movement began. The name of the organization organizing this movement is All Assam Students Union. The Gauhati University Students’ Union was renamed ASHA (Assam Students’ Union) in 1967 and later to ASHU in 1970. It remains the center of the entire movement. To support the Anshu movement, some people formed the All Assam Ghana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP). The two organizations put forward the demand for 3D to the central government. It said the 1978 Mangaldui elections should not be held until the illegal immigrants were identified and arrested, their names removed from the voting lists and they were sent back to their countries. Morarji’s government was at the center, and it was through his persuasion that both organizations presented their demands, after which Mangaldoi was elected.
After the fall of the PPP government, the matter again ran into trouble.
In 1979, the situation began to change again, and there was a turning point. Chaudhry Charan Singh withdrew support from the central government and the PPP government collapsed. In December 1979, it was decided to hold re-elections in the center, after which agitators clamored how fair elections could be held if some 4 million people lived here illegally. Ignoring the demands of agitators in Assam, the government announced that no nominations would be filed for 14 seats, of which 10 out of 14 seats had no nominations. Elections for 2 of the 4 seats had to be canceled and only 2 seats were voted on. However, it was the election of the entire country, after which Indira became a big leader. Now there was the Indira Gandhi government in the center and there was the BJP government in Assam. In this situation, Indira Gandhi used Article 356 to overthrow the Assam government in 1980 and imposed President’s rule for a period of Three years.
In the next three years, Assam agitators held many talks with the central government, but all ended in vain. The agitators still insist on arresting illegal immigrants, removing their names from the electoral lists and deporting them from Assam as per the NRC list drawn up by Nehruji in 1951. Indira said that the Nehru-Liaquat Pact was signed in 1950-51 and in the bill introduced by Nehruji in 1950, it was also said that it would not apply to minorities. At the same time, all the Hindus came from West Pakistan at once and from East Pakistan gradually. Indira said that an agreement had been reached with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for Bangladeshis arriving after March 25, 1971, so March 25, 1971 should be the deadline for negotiations. Both sides were too stubborn to achieve anything.
1983 genocide in Assam
Now 1983 has arrived, and the president’s reign is coming to an end. In this case, it was decided to hold elections in Assam. Indira Gandhi wanted elections to the state’s 126 Assembly seats and the remaining 12 Lok Sabha seats and tried to reach a consensus with agitators in Assam but failed to materialize. It was also decided to hold elections based on the new list, after which Assam agitators were outraged and were jailed when they decided to boycott the assembly elections. Newspapers supporting the movement in Assam were shut down. KPS Gill also advised Indira not to hold elections, but she did not agree and deployed 11 troops and a large number of police forces to hold the country’s first elections. In this election held on the 14th, 15th and February, a total of 109 seats were voted on, and Congress won 91 seats. It also received 32% of the vote. Only the Congress and the Left participated in the election.
After the election, people in Assam were filled with complaints. On February 18, mobs in Assam attacked 14 villages including Nairi in Nagaon district. According to government data, 2,191 people died in one day. People from Bangladesh live in these villages. The central government has since set up a committee to report on the incident. Next year, this Tiwari Commission report also came but it was never brought before anyone. By then Indira had understood that something had to be done to resolve the Assam problem, for which she introduced a bill in October 1983 called IMDT.
Indira’s Illegal Immigration Act 1983 becomes stumbling block
India already has the Foreigners Act, 1964, under which citizens living illegally have to prove that they are Indian citizens, which was brought in by Lal Bahadur Shastri. But Indira Gandhi introduced a bill called the Illegal Immigration (Court Decision) Act, 1983, which would apply only to Assam. It states that we will treat all those who came to India from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971 as illegal immigrants. The Act places the responsibility on the State and the complainant on declaring anyone an illegal citizen. At the same time, such rules are also established, which is very difficult.
1: There should be two complaints regarding illegal residents 2: The person filing the complaint should live within 3 km of the illegal resident 3: In addition to this, a filing fee of Rs.25 is required. The complaint rate was quite high at the time4: the police could not search the man’s home or even detain him.
Rajiv tries to make peace
After the enactment of the Act, it became almost clear that it would become almost difficult to catch people from Bangladesh or other parts of Assam and deport them. Therefore, the bill can only prove that 0.5 people are illegal. This does not provide any solution to the problems of Assam but is just a joke on the local people. Indira’s bodyguards assassinated her in October 1984 following the army’s operation against the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984, after which her son Rajiv Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister. After this election was held, Rajiv Gandhi won 411 seats and became the Prime Minister of the country.
After becoming Prime Minister, Rajiv decided to solve the problems of Assam and Punjab. He struck a deal within six months of forming the government. In Punjab, he signed an agreement with Akali leader Shriharchand Singh Longowal on July 24, 1985, after which he signed an agreement with Assam on August 15, 1985, also known as Assam. Sam Agreement. However, on August 20, the birthday of Rajiv Gandhi, Shri Harchand Singh Longowal was assassinated.
Assam Agreement 1985
There are many clauses in it, but clause 5 is the most important. Among them, the cut-off date for illegal immigration is considered to be January 1, 1966 because of the war with Pakistan in 1965 and people after that will not be considered Assam citizens. It said those included in the electoral list for the 1967 elections will be treated as Indian citizens. Assam movement leaders also agree.
The second thing is that persons arriving between 1966 and March 25, 1971 must register with the Government of India under the Foreigners Registration Act, 1939. These people will be removed from the electoral roll for 10 years. They will have all the rights of citizens and will also have Indian passports. After 10 years of registration, they will be included in the electoral roll again and be considered Indian citizens.
The third and final agreement was reached here that persons arriving after March 25, 1971 would be identified, their names removed from the electoral rolls and they would be returned to their home countries. An agreement was also reached with Bangladesh to take back people who came to India after March 25, 1971. Thereafter, elections were held in Assam, and in 1985, Assam successfully formed a government, winning more than 90 seats.
State Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar will be the Mahant and Home Minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan will be the post. In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister of the Center and in 1985, the Assam government was formed in Assam, after which the two governments cooperated for some time, which is also visible. It is alleged that Section 6A of the Citizenship Act violates the political and cultural rights of the indigenous people of the state.
