Citizenship Amendment Bill | Three big worries the CAB poses

The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government must control things before they spin out into something much bigger. There are three main morning-after problems the government is grappling with after a particularly satisfying night.

The Fires Of Assam

Did the government get the timing of the CAB wrong? Should it have assuaged Northeast, and particularly Assam’s long-standing concerns before tabling the Bill in Parliament?

Perhaps.

The Assamese are not unreasonable in asking for an exception in legislation such as the CAB, which on December 12 became a law when President Ram Nath Kovind approved it. The state has borne the worst brunt of post-Independence migration in the form of religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural takeover by an influx of Bengali Muslims, and also Hindus.

Bengal has had a bigger influx. While the religious demographic shift has been profound, at least the migration of fellow Bengalis lessen the threat of linguistic and cultural usurpation.

The Assam agitation has spawned years of bloodshed, protests and even terrorism. The Assamese ask to be spared a replay all over again.

Which is legitimate. The Indian State must ensure that besides zones falling under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and the Sixth Schedule — border and tribal areas across the Northeast which are exempt from the CAB — there are stronger demographic safeguards in place.

The time to fulfil one festering promise has come. Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, a carrot the Congress dangled but forgot all about for 35 years, must be honoured now. A committee formed on this finally under the Modi government will submit its report in early 2020.

The promise under the clause that “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people” should be respected.

It would also push the cut-off date for legalising refugees to March 24, 1971, instead of December 31, 2014, as the CAB recommends.

That would be a big step in dousing the fires in Assam.

A Future-Imperfect Law?

It is hard to doubt the good intentions of the CAB.

In ‘friendly’ Bangladesh, 107 Hindus were killed, 31 disappeared, 23 converted, 782 forced or asked to leave the country, 25 women and children raped and 235 temples and statues vandalised in 2017, according to an estimate by the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mahajote. There were reportedly 6,474 attacks on Hindus that year.

And it was a good year. In the previous year, 2016, there were 11,335 atrocities.

Pakistan is a hell of another kind for minorities. Some estimates say 20-25 Hindu girls are kidnapped and converted each month in Sindh. Christians, Sikhs and others face a similar fate. When they are not being killed, raped or converted, brutal blasphemy laws throw those like Asia Bibi on the death row.

The CAB seeks to protect these persecuted people. However, only those persecuted and fled to India in the past. Since the cut-off date is 2014, there is no redressal or refuge for those facing persecution now or tomorrow.

Makes the legislation look somewhat less benevolent, doesn’t it?

Spies We May Love

Claims of persecution are not easy to prove. Especially by those supposedly fleeing harsh, intransigent regimes.

That makes planting spies or double agents a real possibility.

How will India verify who is up to mischief and who is not? Can we find out for certain the real identity or religion of a citizenship seeker? Could the CAB ever pose an internal security risk?

The morning after, harsh daylight does throw up a few anxious questions.

Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist and former editor of Mid Day, Hindustan Times (Delhi and NCR editions) and Mail Today. Twitter: @abhijitmajumder. Views are personal.