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The Citizenship Amendment Bill - 2019 - A threat to cultural and linguistic identities of Assam and northeast India

A woman shouts slogans during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati, Assam, December 5, 2019. (Photo: Reuters Source: India Today)

Namaste

 Hope everyone is doing good !!

 Today I am writing on a very sensitive topic that’s getting viral in India and I believe for a very good reason. I am here to discuss about CAB - The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. 

 Facts About the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill:

 The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 and makes illegal migrants from religious minorities - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians - from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, eligible for Indian citizenship.

 According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Indian citizenship will be granted to the immigrant who has lived in India in the last one year and at least five of the last 14 years. Earlier for the migrants, citizenship by naturalization was 11 years.

 The Bill also exempts the areas regulated through the Inner Line Permit in northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur. Most parts of Meghalaya and some parts of Assam and Tripura are also exempted.

 Facts People Should Know:

 Firstly, the people who are protesting against CAB are all the communities from North-east India as they are going to get effected by this bill. Northeast India is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political administrative division of the country. It comprises eight states and they are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Therefore, the ones who aren’t aware of the bill and North-East India please enshrine the truth of this bill and Northeast India with a copy of the bill and a geography book.

Anti CAB protesters at Tripura Police Grounds at Arundhatinagar in West Tripura. (Source: Express photo, The Indian Express)
Secondly, putting lakhs of poverty ridden immigrants from different countries to ethnic states of North-East India where more than 100s of tribe exists will only disrupt the existing communities of the North-eastern states. North-East India is a land of undulating hills and plains with luxuriant green cover historical sites, distinct cultural and ethnic heritage and warm and welcoming people with wide variety of rare and exotic flora and fauna. By allowing lakhs of immigrants to be a part of this community definitely will threaten cultural and linguistic identities of the state.

 People take part in torchlight protest rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati on Saturday. (Photo: ANI, Source: Hindustan Times)
 Thirdly, the people of North-East India have always struggled for their existence when it comes to funds from government and definitely Media attention. They never had issues accepting anyone from any part of the country or world irrespective of anyone learning the local language or speaking Hindi or their respective mother tongues. Aren’t they tolerant enough? Well, just because they are silent doesn’t give authority to anyone including the government to utilize their open-mindedness for vote bank policies.

In Arunachal Pradesh. Source: Arunachal24.in
Steps Government Should Have taken:

 There are several internal problems that needs to be eradicated and this bill not only eliminates all previous criminal acts of the illegal immigrants by entering India but also makes them as citizens of India. I respect government’s concern on humanitarian grounds but if they are actually concerned and obsessed about the people from other respective countries than the immigrants should be displaced in cities like Kolkata, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Pune, Delhi, etc where there is a growing market for industries not in the north eastern states as they are prone to ethnic cleansing as I recollect the history 

 Situation Now in North-east India: 

 Assam my motherland is burning. Despite curfew on Thursday thousands of people took to the streets of Guwahati, prompting police to open fire, even as protests against the ccontentious bill are intensifying in the state. Deserted roads, vehicles set on fire, closed educational institutions and banks, markets and huge processions raising slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and clashes brought life in parts of Assam to a grinding halt.

Members of the All Assam Students’ Union at a protest rally against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, in Guwahati on 8 December (Photo: PTI and Source: livemint)
Even before the Lok Sabha cleared the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) by midnight on Monday, protests had broken out in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Tripura became a phone and internet dark spot post 2pm on Tuesday. In Arunachal Pradesh shops, markets and business establishments kept their shutters down during the strike called by the North East Students’ Organization (NESO). 

College students raising slogans in Guwahati to protest the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) during a strike. (Photo: PTI, Source: India Today)
Conclusion:

 The states or the citizens of India not getting effected by CAB know the exact thing. We, the people of northeast India need your support that helps us to unite not divide. To all the fellow travelers who have been in northeast and spent time with various ethnic tribes here, we need your support.
Remember: North East India was never about Churches, Mosques and Temples. It was never about Hindus, Muslims and Christians. We don’t need politics. We need space and we have been spreading peace.

 I will leave all the readers with pictures from Northeast collected from different sources. See for yourself and decide !! 

An Indian man holds a placard as he participates in a torch light procession to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Guwahati (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, Source: India Today)

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Location: Guwahati, Assam, India

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