The simmering discontent that has been fomenting over the last few months and had risen to unprecedented levels in the last few weeks all across the Northeast and Arunachal Pradesh over the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2016 is over, at least for now, like a bad dream.
The central government has quietly shelved this controversial amendment and this shows that the ripples resulting from the deluge of disapproval have finally managed to reach the corridors of power in Delhi.
The air which has been till now thick with the smell of burning tyres and a sense of betrayal is now replaced with wild jubilations, crackers and frenzied dancing. If in Assam it is the most, similar is the sentiment in Arunachal. Our student unions and common people in unison have heaved a sigh of relief.
To arrive at the reasons for this maximal manifestation of anger and subsequent exuberance it is necessary to have the fundamental insights surrounding the whole episode.
The failed Bill sought to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal immigrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for Indian citizenship.
But the real bone of contention lies in the fact that it seeks to overhaul the definition of “illegal immigrants”, purely on the basis of religion. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, if passed in Parliament, will have implied that minorities from these Muslim dominated countries who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014 will not be deported or imprisoned for being in India even if found to be living without valid documents.
But one must have to be genuinely unbiased and logical to arrive at the reasons for so much anger displayed by the people of the Northeast. It should be categorically understood that it is not animosity on the part of the Northeast people towards other communities that is behind the resistance. It has evolved out of sheer and legitimate fear about being reduced to a minority in their homeland, outnumbered by a swarming influx of immigrants who can and presumably fast alter the existing cultural ecosystem, blurring indigenous identities.
But the economic reality that looms large is of paramount significance. If people in thousands leave Bangladesh and start staying legally here, pressure will first manifest in the principal economic resource i.e land. And once getting the status of legitimate citizens, they will naturally lengthen the queue of job hopefuls that will surely lower opportunities for the indigenous. Also it’s not hard to anticipate that in no less time they will be the decider of Northeast’s political future too.
With such plethora of pitfalls it thus seems satisfying that the Bill has not emerged as a law. The people of this region by this feat have proved the point once more- Northeast cannot be the laboratory for political experiments and gains. Its indigeneity and sentiments must be venerated.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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