As expected, the first hurdle in the way of the Citizenship Amendment Bill’s emergence as a law has been crossed quite effortlessly in LS on Monday. Till late evening, discussions were on and there had been intense efforts on the part of the Union Home Minister to assuage apprehensions raised by the opposition about the ‘communal intent’ of the proposed legislation which is much evident from the one-liner he made-“CAB is not even 0.001% against minorities in the country.” While action-packed debate continues in the lower house, the entire NE including Arunachal will be having a bandh on Tuesday as a mark of protest, which speaks volumes that it might be still a long way left to gather the region’s full assent. It must be remembered that the state of NE’s disbelief about CAB is continuing to persist even after a series of loud announcements that the ‘safeguards’ are enough to ward off all their anxiety-laden suspicion.
It will not be too difficult to arrive at the currently diametrically opposite mood of the NE against the ruling dispensation at the centre which voted so magnanimously in favour of them even a few months back during general elections. Here, the overriding factor above anything else is the fear of insecurity of becoming minorities in their own land in every parameters- economic, social, cultural and so on. Facts in aplenty will corroborate this sentiment. Since independence, illegal migration has always remained a critical issue and it will be no exaggeration to say that in some states and some pockets, it has reached the extreme points of saturation rendering the indigenous population to get outnumbered. With all these undeniable realities, all assurances, however in-depth they seem, are thus grossly falling short of garnering the popular support of the region’s people. Feeling the pulse, it is evident that a belief has cemented in people’s mind the bill is a brazen attempt to pursue the agenda of vote-bank politics exclusively on the lines of religion. That is why, questions are flowing freely that if giving refuge to the prosecuted religious minorities of the hand-picked neighbours is the sole intention and holy spirit of CAB, why not do all that are needed for this, except doling out the right to vote. It is apparent that more and more of such questions will arise in coming days and the onus to explain all these on the part of the champions of the bill will gather weight.
But the current temper only suggests that it might be days of bandhs and disruptions ahead which will be a considerable loss in terms of economic costs for the region. Meanwhile, questions surrounding CAB will only continue to multiply. 

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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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