'CAA not relevant, Hindu Bengalis know they are Indians': Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on September 9 said Hindu Bengalis in the state have not applied for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) as they are already certain of their identity as citizens.

“There is no reason to suspect Hindu Bengalis as foreigners, as they have come before 1971. The CAA has no relevance in Assam,” Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.

According to the chief minister, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had facilitated the settlement of Hindu Bengalis in 1971 and never indicated that they would be sent back. “The Hindu Bengalis are confident that they are Indians. So they did not apply under CAA. There have been only 12 applications so far, and only three persons have been granted citizenship,” he said.

The CM also pointed out that five people lost their lives during anti-CAA protests in the state, but the number of applicants remained negligible. He added that there have been no applications since the Immigration and Foreigners’ (Exemption) Order, 2025, came into effect earlier this year.

The order allows minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — who entered India before December 31, 2024, citing religious persecution, to stay without valid travel documents. The CAA, which became operational last year, grants Indian citizenship to those who arrived on or before December 31, 2014.

Sarma dismissed concerns over the law’s impact in Assam. “If there are lakhs of applications, we will then consider the matter and take necessary steps, but as of now, this is not relevant in the state,” he said.

Opposition parties and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have criticised the Centre, accusing it of undermining the Assam Accord, which set March 1971 as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal migrants. They argue that extending the cut-off year first to 2014 under the CAA and now to 2024 under the exemption order is a move to regularise Hindu Bengali migrants from Bangladesh.

The Assam Accord, signed on August 15, 1985, ended a six-year-long anti-foreigner agitation in the state that claimed thousands of lives. (With inputs from PTI)