By
Ashis Biswas
Even
as Assam and parts of the Northeast remain embroiled in vigorous protests
against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, one hopeful sign is that new ideas
to arrive at a balanced solution have been put forward. The fact that there has
been no major outbreak of ethnic violence among dominant groups in the region
also fosters optimism during an obviously tense confrontation between the
Centre and the non–BJP opposition parties.
Observers
point to certain special features in the present situation that differ markedly
from the violent 80s and 90s in matters relating to ethnic relations,
especially in Assam. People of the three Bengali-speaking districts in the
Barak Valley have welcomed the Centre’s decision to allot citizenship for
non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries. Once more in
terms of political choice, cultural preferences and language, the clear break
that exists between upper Assam districts and the Barak Valley remains as
unbridgeable as ever.
On
the other hand, in Guwahati and some other parts of Assam, where Assamiyas are
dominant, groups of Bengalis have joined angry opposition protests against the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), apparently sacrificing their own long term
political interests. Whether these gestures will successfully convince Assamiya
organizations of their good faith and loyalty remains open to question.
Sections
of both Hindu and Muslim Bengalis settled in Assam have been known to declare
falsely Assamiya as their mother tongue during census operations. The motive is
to ensure that they were not discriminated against or treated as second class
citizens in the state. In the process, the natural domination of Assamiyas in
their homeland politically and culturally can be sustained.
Kolkata-based
observers feel that in the present situation, an earlier proposal to create a
separate state conflating the three Barak Valley districts and adjacent areas
could well be revived in the greater interest of preserving peace in the state
and the region as a whole. The BJP is not averse by its tradition towards
creating small autonomous states, provided certain basic requirements are
fulfilled. The fact that some areas within the valley are already contiguous
with Bengali-majority Tripura is, if anything, an added bonus.
However,
most Assamiya organisations have refused to support or endorse such proposals
in the past for emotional and other reasons. The present area of Assam,
according to their spokesmen, is already much reduced for Assamiyas, as Meghalaya
became a separate state. Arunachal Pradesh too is no longer ruled from
Guwahati. In the process the culture of Assamiyas has lost its earlier pre-1947
domination, its natural hinterland, in the region as a whole.
Not
surprisingly, the idea of a new autonomous state found ready resonance in
Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, where most people accuse
Guwahati-based authorities of neglecting their genuine demands and economic
interests. The bitter legacy of the Bengali language movement of the early
fifties, when 11 people were shot dead, has not been forgotten. Hardcore
Assamiya organizations remain unforgiven in the region.
The
other idea doing the rounds has been put forward in a letter jointly signed by
135 academics, activists and professionals from all over India to President
R.N.Kovind. The signatories include Harsh Mander, Johanna Lokhande, Jayati
Ghosh, Karen Gabriel, Biswaji Bora, Farah Naqvi, Dhananjay Tripathy, Anuradha
Chenoy and Ayesha Kidwai, among others.
They have suggested that the recent
upgrading of the citizens’ register in Assam (NRC exercise) has rendered the
future of nearly 40 lakh people uncertain for their apparent failure to fulfill
the required conditions that ensure Indian citizenship. This, out of a total
population of 3.2 crore people. By December 31 2018, the last date for fresh
applications for such people, it has been seen that only around 31 lakh people
have been able to put up more documents and secure additional evidence of their
citizenship.
However, even if the NRC authorities
accept the claims of all these people, this would still leave around 900,000
people stateless. What is to be done with them? Bangladesh clearly cannot be
expected to accept as its citizen such a large number of people. On the other
hand, the Supreme Court, the apex authority supervising the upgrading exercise,
insists that illegal Bangladeshis found in Assam should be deported to their
land of origin.
Should
they be kept in specially administered camps under armed guards in the interim
prior to their eventual pushback following Indo-Bangla negotiations — an
extremely unlikely possibility, Supreme Court or not! — as a tribe of unwanted
people their fate not unlike that of the hapless Rohingyas of the Rakhine
province of Myanmar? It could lead to an imbroglio similar to that involving
Myanmar, Bangladesh and the international community, drawing India into the vortex
of a massive regional ethnic crisis that would be largely of its own creation.
Where would so many men, women and children be accommodated in India, who will
pay for their upkeep and maintenance, the letter asks.
Unless these questions were actively
considered and some concrete plans worked out to the last detail, it would be
foolhardy for Indian authorities to proceed with what seems to be an obviously
impractical, if not harebrained, scheme involving the fate of lakhs of people.
Security and stability in a highly sensitive region would be once more
jeopardized with unforeseen long term consequences.
The academics, whose letter has been
published in full by a Guwahati-based website, suggest as a way out that
everyone enlisted in the NRC exercise be accepted as Indians. That is the best
and only way to maintain status quo without unnecessarily rocking the boat and
engendering fresh ethnic tensions, distrust and mass hatred in a region where
the writ of the Centre runs thin on the ground.
The signatories feel that this would
be a simple yet permanent solution to what has come to be called ‘the enduring
ethnic problem of Assam ‘over the years. If accepted, their proposal can bring
about a decisive conclusion to what continues to be called ‘the unfinished
business of an Assam settlement,’ once and for all. Political parties and
common people can go about their business in peace thereafter. (IPA Service)
The post New Ideas On Assam’s Future Have Merit appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
