New Delhi: The Citizenship Act has divided the country into jubilations and protests. While Hindu refugee communities across India erupted with joy with the passage of the bill, a majority of Northeast remained on edge.
With Assam up in arms over the passage of the bill, Guwahati, the epicentre of anti-CAB protests was placed under curfew. The government rushed Army and paramilitary troops to Assam and Tripura while protests gather momentum and agitators defy curfew orders to hit the streets.
In the wake of this, Manash Pratim Bhuyan, a senior journalist, and Krishna Sarma, a leading lawyer, delved into the issue while talking to ETV Bharat.
"The Citizenship Act essentially legitimise Hindus living in Assam and other parts of the country. People of Assam
demanded identification and deportation of Bangladeshi from Assam irrespective of their religion. Now, this act allows Hindu migrants to stay back in India which is definitely not a good move. The genuine apprehension of the people of Assam is, few years down the line, they might be in minority due to continuous influx of migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan," said Bhuyan.
He further said that it's an emotive issue for the people of Assam that's why the country is witnessing a spontaneous outburst of their outrage.
"People are coming out on streets irrespective of their caste and community..students are spontaneously coming out on streets because it's a political issue..it's basically the equation of identity of the Assamese people," he said hoping that the government will assure them that their future and cultural identity will be protected.
Read: Citizenship (Amendment) Bill gets President's assent, becomes Act
Giving her view on the Act and the whole fiasco, Krishna Sarma said that the government perhaps had a larger goal.
"The government perhaps had a larger goal--it could be an eye in West Bengal or genuinely to give shelter to people who have come from Pakistan. The ask on the table was that all the illegal migrants, irrespective of their religion, must be detected and deported from Assam but government after government could not do that or were not interested in doing that and that has been a problem," said Sarma.
On being asked that what are the possibilities as far as the legality of this act is concern? To this, Sarma said that a person or group can approach to the Supreme Court, as it is a central act, and assail the constitutionality.
"In this case, it will be article 14 that ensures equality of law and equal protection of the law. But, I would actually caution that the case should be brought with the little bit of thought because if you go to the Court unprepared, you may actually have a decision that will put a stamp of validity on this act," she added.
