Goodbye, contentious bill!

Exactly a week ago, I was at the picturesque banks of River Brahmaputra attending a lovely literary festival in Guwahati. Coincidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also on his northeast political sojourn. But in several areas of Assam, he was greeted with black flags. Some time back, effigies of the PM had also been burnt. Over the last few years and mainly during Modi's regime, BJP has expanded its footprint in the northeast. But BJP has been playing with fire; first, with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and then with the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill.

With the Citizenship Amendment Bill, BJP intends to amend the Citizenship Bill of 1955 and offer citizen status to non-Muslims from India's neighbouring nations. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh can get Indian citizenship on grounds of religious persecution even if they have entered the country as illegal immigrants till December 31, 2014.

The matter is such a tinderbox that it has divided the northeast right down the middle and the tension is palatable. From restaurants and hotels to pubs and literary festivals, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was on everyone's lips. A young female academic pointed out to me that if the Bill was passed in Parliament, the entire northeast, especially Assam, would burn.

Politically, the Bill has not culled any favours with BJP's allies with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) already pulling out of its alliance with the saffron party in the Assam. A massive blow to BJP with the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away. Large number of protests and bandhs emanated from the entire northeast in the last few weeks. Friends and foes, young and old, all united to register their protest against this controversial Bill once it became clear that it will be discussed in Rajya Sabha. Famous singer Bhupen Hazarika's family refused to accept the Bharat Ratna posthumously; that is how strongly Assam and the rest of the northeast feel about this Bill.

A good thing then that the Citizenship Amendment Bill along with Triple Talaq Bill lapsed as this Parliament session came to an end. The only way forward would be to table these bills once again. But that will be possible now only when the 17th Lok Sabha begins its first session later this year - unless the Modi government decided to pass it by bringing in an ordinance.

Witnessing the deep angst the northeast has towards this Bill, the question remains, why would BJP decide to open this Pandora's box? The northeast fears that with immigration and citizenship that has the stamp of the government, it would lose its own identity, language, customs, and culture. The Citizenship Amendment Bill also directly flouts the Assam Accord of 1985, which stated that any foreigner from Bangladesh, irrespective of religion, would be identified and deported if they came into Assam after March 24, 1971.

Is our political class (read: BJP) so disconnected from the people that they would dare to incite such disruptive flames among its northeastern citizens? Other than BJP's commitment to pleasing the Rashtriya Swayamsavak Sangh (RSS), the Citizenship Amendment Bill would count on the vote bank of the Hindu Bangladeshi immigrants who were left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. The general populace of the indigenous people of Assam and the other six northeastern states steadfastly oppose this Bill. And the party would do well to listen to those voices rather than of select political leaders such as Assam's finance minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who thinks it will prevent the state from becoming one of Muslim-majority. The fact is that this anger towards the Citizenship Amendment Bill is more an ethnic issue than a communal one. Perhaps BJP is listening to the people since the Bill has been allowed to lapse. But will it let sleeping dogs lie?

(The writer is a journalist and media entrepreneur. The views expressed are strictly personal)