Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019: The unrest in the North East

Dr Aniruddha Babar
“…….The ruling side knows why this legislation is being brought, we also know why they have come up with this legislation, the people also know… I just want to warn the government that…itihaaskiaankhon ne wofalakbhidekhehain, lamhon ne galtikiaursadiyonnesazapayihain… (History has been witness to episodes where eons had to pay for a momentary mistake…) Today, you are going to commit a big mistake…..
~ Shri. Manish Tiwari, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, 9th December, 2019, Debate in Loksabhaon Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019
The citizenship Act 1955 was the first provision of the Indian government that informed about how the citizenship of India can be acquired and what could be the grounds for acquiring citizenship. According to this Act, an individual could gain the Indian citizenship if they were born in India, have resided in India for a long period or have Indian parentage. The main aim of this legislation was to prohibit the illegal migrants from acquiring Indian citizenship. According to this Act, any individual who enters India with forged documents and invalid passport was considered as illegal migrant. In the year 2014, the Citizenship Rule was proposed to be amended by introducing a Legislative Bill, under which religion was to be considered as the explicit ground for awarding citizenship.
This step was taken ‘evaluating’ the situation specifically of the Hindus as “vulnerable”especially in Pakistan and therefore, the Citizenship Act of 1955 was proposed to be amended specifically to accommodate Hindu migrants. In the year 2016, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was presented in the parliament in order to bring some significant changes in the existing legislation. This bill was mainly to consider the problems that the refugee population is facing and that such population is deprived of many facilities and rights in India because of their illegal immigrant status. The existing law did not allow the immigrants to obtain the citizenship of India provided they must have resided in India or have been in the central government service for the last 12 months and at least 11 years of the preceding 14 years, and other qualifications as specified in Section 6 (1) of the Citizen Act,1955. However, the latest amendment “in question”can bring significant changes and can increase the movement of immigrants from Bangladesh to North-East India, which is a major reason of concern for Northeastern states.
The Bill provides that, illegal migrants belonging to specified minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan will not be treated as illegal migrants under the Act, making them all eligible for Indian citizenship.  These minority communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.  This implies that illegal migrants from these countries who are Muslims, other minorities who do not belong to the above groups e.g. Jews or Atheists who do not identify with a religious group will not be eligible for citizenship.  The question is whether this provision violates the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution because it provides differential treatment to illegal migrants on the basis of their religion.Article 14 guarantees equality to all persons, citizens and foreigners.  It only permits laws to differentiate between groups of people if the rationale for doing so serves a reasonable purpose.  The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill does not explain the rationale behind differentiating between illegal migrants on the basis of the religion they belong to.
However, according to Government the increasing vulnerability of the population of the  Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis in the neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh resulted in increasing the illegal migration of these people to India, which led to the development and formulation of Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. This Bill had resulted in relaxing the eligibility criteria for the selection of the immigrants and included six minority communities or people, who came to India before 2014. The minimum requirement of the residency period was 11 years in the earlier Act, which is now reduced to 5 years (In 2016 Bill, it was 6 years).
The proposed amendment in the Bill has also raised some significant concerns and oppositions. The first reason of opposition is that religion has never been used as the ground for making the difference between citizen and non-citizens. Therefore, the Civil Society groups have called this bill as the “communally motivated humanitarianism”. This bill is also considered to be increasing inequality, as it does not include the Shias or Ahmadiyya’s or Mohajirs in Pakistan, who are also the oppressed, discriminated and persecuted minorities. Article 14 of the Indian constitutionprovides equality to everyone, however differentiating on the grounds of religion can be a significant violation of the Indian constitution. Some even believe that this bill will also stamp the countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan as the institutions that perpetuate religious oppression and will also negatively affect the bilateral relations.
Since the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lower House of Parliament in 2016, there has been a significant unrest among the people from the North-East states of India. People from North-East and mainly from Assam have significantly protested against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. There are various social political and economic implications of the Bill that could affect the Northeast Indian states. The people from Northeast states are significantly concerned about their status in their states. They fear that this bill will increase the number of immigrants in their states that would affect the social and economic benefits that they receive. For example, the indigenous people living in Mizoram fear that the entry of the Buddhists Chakmas from Bangladesh will take the advantage of the bill and will migrate in significant number. The tribal communities from Meghalaya and Nagaland are worried about the Bengali migrants. The tribal people living in the Northeast state have developed their own social, political and economic environment. They have their own traditional and cultural system of living that could be significantly affected by the entry of migrants from Bangladesh or other countries. The government of Manipur want to implement the Inner Line Permit System in order to stop the immigrants from entering into the state. The Indigenous National party and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura are also against the bill as they fear that their tribal status will be affected by this bill.
However, as per the latest version of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 which has been introduced and passed in LokSabha on 9th of December, 2019 have made certain changes in the original draft of 2016 Bill. As per 2019 CAB Bill, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, where Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime is applicable, will be kept out of the purview of the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). The ILP regime is under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. In terms of Section 2 of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873, the Inner Line Permit system is prevalent in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. Moreover, Under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, autonomous councils and districts were created in tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The autonomous councils and districts enjoy certain executive and legislative powers. They will also be exempted from the purview of Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019. However, the question arises as to whether these so called ‘protected’ regions would also be able to escape by taking a shelter of ‘Inner Line Permit System’ from the ‘indirect’ impact of the influx of large number population in the neighbouring regions?  Demographic change is the first social, political and an economic issue that have raised the concern of the Northeast people. The decades of illegal migration have been ongoing in Tripura and Assam, but through this bill such immigration would become legal and the already existing communities will likely to lose their demographic status. People from Assam fear that their language will become secondary, their culture would be distorted and their political rights would be lost. Another reason of the significant opposition of the Bill in Assam is that this Bill is against the Assam Accordwhich was signed on 15th of August 1985 between representatives of Government of India and the leaders of Assam Movement in New Delhi declared “March 24, 1971” as the cut-off date for illegal immigrants; however, the proposed Bill moves the cut-off date for illegal immigrants – for only six religions - by more than 43 years to December 31, 2014. A six years long agitation followed against illegal migrants from the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), which then culminated with the signing of an agreement called the Assam Accord. The citizenship Amendment Bill also contradicts with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) which is a roster of all those who settled in Assam up to the midnight of March 24, 1971. It may be noted that, Bengali Hindus (from Bangladesh) who were declared illegal immigrants by the NRC are now legal by the current clauses of the bill. This nullifies the process of NRC and seriously affects the demographic character of the region.
The Assam Accord and the NRC set the cut off of the citizen irrespective of their religious status. For becoming the citizen of Assam, the tribal people and other population of the state have to prove that their ancestors were the residents of the state before March 25, 1971. However, due to the Bill, the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who came before 1971 would become the citizen of the state affecting the existing population and their social status.  States like Manipur and Tripura have a significant number of the Hindu population, but the Bill may result in implementing the communally driven agenda, which can result in creating a political void. The economy of the states includes the employment and job opportunities for the resident population and the existing laws provide priority to them to participate in the economic system. However, the Bill would result in making the immigrants and refugees the citizen of the states and the opportunities for employment and job would be divided between the existing citizens and new immigrant citizens. (To be contd)