Ever since, the CAB was tabled in the Parliament, rumours have been flying thick and fast with the Congress led opposition trying to create the myth that the Bill will alter the demographics in the Northeastern states, including Assam. Even former Congress President, Rahul Gandhi tried spreading this rumour with a tweet that read, “The CAB is a attempt by Modi-Shah Govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India. I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service.”
The CAB is a attempt by Modi-Shah Govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India.
I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service.https://t.co/XLDNAOzRuZ
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 11, 2019
While it is being increasingly rumoured that the Northeastern states, and particularly the state of Assam are going to face demographic alterations owing to the Citizenship Amendment Bill which is now all set to take shape of an Act, BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe on Wednesday demolished all such myths in his Rajya Sabha speech during the discussion on CAB and also set the record straight as far as the issue of Assam’s changing demographics is concerned.
At the outset, he made it clear that what the Modi government has done now, should have actually been done decades ago. Emphasising further, he states that in 1931, a Census Commissioner in Assam had in his report said that if Bengalis kept migrating to Assam, then it would create a peculiar situation in Assam, wherein Assamese themselves would be in minority. He further stated that in the years prior to independence, large-scale migration from the then East Bengal had again contributed to the alteration of Bengalis in the state of Assam.
Stepping up attack on the Congress, he further pointed out that 1978 when bypolls took place in a constituency in Upper Assam, the renewed voter list had revealed a huge spike in the population of illegal infiltrators. He then came down heavily on the then PM Indira Gandhi for not solving this grave issue.
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe pointed out that instead of solving the illegal immigrants issue in Assam, the Indira government had enacted the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983. This legislation created a restriction with respect to the deportation of illegal immigrants in the state of Assam.
As per the provisions of the Act which dealt specifically with the issue of detection and expulsion of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from the state of Assam. As reiterated by BJP MP Saharsabudhee, the general law is that when the nationality of a person is in doubt, the onus to prove his nationality lies upon the person in question himself.
However, a peculiarity was created in the case of Assam whereby the burden of proof lied upon the complainant and the police, and not upon the person accused of being an illegal immigrant. It is this absurd and unconstitutional legislation that resulted in the rise of population of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state of Assam. Ultimately, the 1983 Act was held unconstitutional and struck down by the Supreme Court.
As pointed out by Vinay Sahasrabuddhe himself, it is absurd that those who enacted an unconstitutional legislation which altered the demographics of Assam, are today giving sermons on how CAB is unconstitutional and an alleged threat to the demographics of the Northeast. He also cited a 2012 affidavit reiterating the position of the government at the time when it came to deportation of illegal immigrants in Assam. The affidavit, inter alia, read, “The Government is committed to deporting illegal Bangladeshi migrants, but only lawfully.” He made it clear that this is exactly what the Modi government is trying to do now.
The Congress effectively exacerbated illegal infiltration by migrants from Bangladesh, and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe went on to recall how over half a dozen villages or settlements of illegal immigrants, in and around the Kaziranga National Park, were removed only after the BJP took charge of the state of Assam.
He also took a dig on Congress’s brand of secularism by telling an anecdote wherein a Congress leader got pamphlets projecting a police officer, averse to Hindu leaders, as ‘pro-Hindu’ and thus getting him transferred.
Vinay Saharsabuddhe narrating a funny story on Congress style secularism & how they got an inspector transferred after painting him as pro-Hindu😂 pic.twitter.com/Qcr6Qye5LB
— Fives🚩 (@Kishkinda2) December 11, 2019
Rajya Sabha MP Sahasrabuddhe’s speech was an exercise in busting myths about Assam and the CAB. The fact remains that most of the Northeast, areas under ILP and Sixth Schedule, has been exempted from the CAB. As such, there is no threat to the demographics of the Northeastern states, including the state of Assam. The manner in which, the BJP MP has lucidly explained the history of illegal immigrants issue in Assam makes it clear that while the Congress govenrments did not solve the issue for several decades and only complicated it further with the IMDT Act, the BJP government has progressed further towards solving the issue with the NRC. Whatever is being propagated about the CAB and the Northeast therefore must be seen in light of this speech which has actually done a great service to the nation and the Northeast by setting the record straight.
