Dimapur, Aug. 9 (EMN): Describing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) as a grave danger to the very existence of the indigenous people of the region, the North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act in the interest of the indigenous population, not ‘foreigners.’
The working committee of NEFIP wrote a memorandum to Modi, a copy of which was made available to the press on Friday. The forum is a conglomeration of various civil societies formed to oppose the passing of the CAB “upholding the aspirations of the indigenous people inhabiting the seven states of NE India, namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.”
According to the forum, the theme of the Bill is to naturalise the “illegal immigrants belonging to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains (sic) from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, as legitimate citizens of India.”
But if the Bill is enacted, it stated, it will end up creating demographic imbalance “to the already fragile indigenous population and pose grave danger to very existence of the indigenous people of NE as a whole irrespective of the size of the population of the communities.”
In the memorandum, the NEFIP reminded Modi that the CAB violates Article 14 of the Constitution as well as the Preamble. “Such a Bill shall have severe impacts on the ongoing process of the NRC monitored by the Supreme Court as the crucial dates of reference to recognise an immigrant for naturalisation are different.
“It negates the section 6A in the Citizenship Act, 1955 introduced in pursuance to the Assam Accord of 1985 and shall jeopardise the whole exercise already carried out. It will be incorrect to assume that all illegal immigrants who profess these three faiths have entered India surreptitiously are due to persecution on the ground of religion in their home country, as most of them are economic migrants,” it read.
Although BJP leaders have assured that the Bill will not harm the indigenous people’s economic, traditional and cultural interest, the forum reminded, the fact remains that even now “almost 80% of the economy is controlled by non-indigenous inhabitants of the region.”
It argued that to further add non-indigenous population will not only aggravate the already marginalised indigenous population but also supplant the local population to the point of extinction.
“It has been argued that the state government cannot be bypassed for process for naturalisation, this being true however a person that is not recommended for naturalisation in a state can apply for naturalisation from another state and become a citizen of India, thus there is no way to stop them. In such case, a state can allow millions of foreigners to become Indians who cannot be denied entry into any state hence.
“At the moment, it is estimated that there are 4 million illegal immigrants in Assam who cannot be granted citizenship under NRC. Whereas, when CAB is enacted these foreigners will be easily accommodated as legal citizens under one pretext or other, this shall further worsen the present demographic crisis,” it stated.
The NEFIP also expressed concern over the two notifications on September 7, 2015 vide by which the Passport (Entry into India) Rules of 1950 was amended, whereby those foreigners from the said three countries who had entered into India by December 31, 2014 are legalised.
“The second notification vide No. GSR686 (E) amended the Foreigners Orders of 1948 by which the restrictive rules relaxed for these illegal immigrants are nothing but the forerunner of the CAB. These relaxations of the laws are found detrimental to the interests of the indigenous people of the NE India,” it stated.
