Exclusive | Citizenship Bill creates major rift in Northeastern states

Guwahati, January 24, 2019:

“I believe that Government is the servant of the people and not their master.” – David Rockefeller

The people:

Northeast India, which is considered one of the most volatile areas by the political rulers of mainland India, is on the boil yet again. And this time, it is the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 that has caused the unrest in the political arena of the region. Detractors of the Bill have alleged that it is a strictly communal policy that seeks to strengthen the BJP voterbase in the region by affording citizenship status to the Non-Muslim people who settled here before March 31, 2014. But while many people have taken to the streets to protest the Bill, the silence of vast swathes of the population regarding the Bill suggests one of two things: either they do not think they will be affected by the Bill or they are actually in support of it.

The Governments:

In Assam, the Government has tried to mute the voices of the anti-Bill protestors, with many questioning the Government’s anti free-speech policy after noted intellectual Hiren Gohain was arrested on a suo-moto case after alleged ‘anti-national’ remarks. But whereas the Assam government has tried to quell the beginnings of the rebellion, people from other parts of Northeast India have found easier to express their dissent. Mizoram student bodies have, in fact, started asking for separation from the rest of India. “Bye bye India, hello China”, some of the placards they were carrying read. Protests have been seen in every state of the north east, and yet the Governments of the states have reacted differently, which shows that this is a wholly political issue.

Let us analyze the rumblings in the seven states and how the political class have reacted to the voices of the people:

Assam:

[caption id="attachment_22133" align="alignnone" width="660"] 'Bajra Ninad' held at Guwahati's Latasil playground[/caption]

The people of Assam have been rocked by the Bill, with many indigenous people’s organizations coming together to express their dissent. Enough reason to scrap the Bill, right? Well, wrong. After the initial hue-and-cry over Narendra Modi’s rally in Silchar where he reiterated the BJP’s motive to enact the Bill, pre-and-post Bihu protests took place. During the Assam harvest festival, Bihu, many intellectuals, celebrities as well as mediapersons fed representations of the Bill to the flames of the ‘meji’ as a symbolic move. People waited expectantly for the ‘Jatiya Nayak’ Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal take a stand against the ‘jati’ destroying but when the Chief Minister finally did speak, it was in support of the Bill which has further fanned the flames of dissent. And Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s criticism of the media and protestors does not help matters either. With the fate of the Bill hanging in the balance in the Rajya Sabha, what we can summarize from these month long protests and agitations is that although the people of the state are strongly opposed to the Bill, the Government is firmly in support of it.

Tripura:

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb is known for his controversial and often-ridiculous Hindutvawadi statements and remarks. In fact, who can forget his remark slamming Diana Hayden while praising Aishwarya Rai calling her an “Indian beauty” for no apparent reason? He also came into the spotlight after he claimed that graduates should take up breeding cows as a vocation, while addressing the issue of unemployment. As expected, the proud BJP Chief Minister and Hindutwavadi, Biplab Deb, has taken necessary steps to curb the rebellion. Protestors of the Bill were shot upon during the NESO-called bandh on January 8, with many of them landing up in the hospital. Due the the BJP’s stranglehold over the state, protests have been muted with an iron grip and this has hardly affected the BJP’s popularity in the state as they won the municipal elections handily.

Arunachal Pradesh:

The pristine valleys of Arunachal have also heard the cry of rebellion, but they have mostly been called by members of the opposition party. Yesterday, members of the Congress led by Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Takam Sanjoy, CLP leader Takam Pario and MLA Markio Tado staged a dharna demanding that the Bill be scrapped and burned effigies of the Minister Pema Khandu. The drama continues to intensify in the state with many BJP leaders defecting to the Congress. Of course, the most high-profile of these defections was the resignation of ex-CM Gegong Apang, who joined the ‘Maha Gathbandhan rally in Kolkata hosted by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and has since vowed to fight the next elections under the banner of a new party.

Meghalaya:

Meghalaya, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Northeast, has seen a shadow being cast over it in recent times due to the illegal coal mining tragedy in East Jaintia Hills district where fifteen miners have been trapped in a flooded mine since December 13. One body has been recovered from the site thus far. This has led to a tug-of-war between the Meghalaya government and the Supreme Court over the transportation of coal in the region.

Despite this incident grabbing the headlines in Meghalaya, highly popular Chief Minister Conrad Sangma went to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh and has asserted that the demand from the Meghalaya government to null the highly controversial Bill is “absolute” and has also threatened to move out of an alliance with the BJP in the state. BJP minority leaders, meanwhile, have been resigning left, right and centre. This shows that while the BJP-NPP alliance has necessitated a diplomatic approach from leaders of the state, the people of the state as well as the government are opposed to the Bill.

Mizoram:

[caption id="attachment_22135" align="alignnone" width="660"] Protest in Mizoram.[/caption]

When Zoramthanga, the newly-elected Chief Minister of Mizoram went to visit Rajnath Singh with his Meghalaya counterpart to hold talks over the Bill, it was made clear where Mizoram stood on the issue. And the stand of the people of Mizoram over the issue has been made clear by the large demonstrations against the Bill. The youth of Mizoram, especially, are vehemently opposed to the Bill with some of them going so far as to demand segregation from mainland India. “Mizos will stand united until the end”, read a placard and for both supporters and opposers of the Bill, it is indeed a heart-warming sight to see so many people turn up together in great numbers to stand for something they believe in. The people in Mizoram are freely expressing their democratic right to protest while civil groups such as PRISM have also called for a boycott of Republic Day in protest against the Bill.

Nagaland:

[caption id="attachment_22134" align="alignnone" width="660"] Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio[/caption]

Nagaland’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is allied with the BJP, but that has not stopped the Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, from sounding off against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. In a letter to Rajnath Singh, the CM stated that the Bill is not applicable to the state of Nagaland as it is protected by the dual-provisions of the Article 371 (A) as well as the Inner Line Permit (ILP) as per Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) which provides constitutional safeguards to the state as per the rules which were finalized when it was granted statehood. Thus, this letter has made the stand of the Nagaland government very clear regarding the issue.

Manipur:

The BJP is heading a coalition government in Manipur with the National People’s Party (NPP) and Chief Minister N Biren Singh has announced that all parties in the state will meet on January 29 to discuss the Bill.

People of the state, who have turned out for the protests in great numbers are expecting the Chief Minister to take a clear-cut stand in this meeting, as the Chief Minister is yet to take a concrete stand on the matter. Manipur People’s Party (MPP) as well as many student organizations and civil societies are voicing their concerns against the Bill and organizing protests against it.

In yet another protest in Manipur against the Bill yesterday which grabbed national headlines, five students belonging to the outfit All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) had to be hospitalized after police fired smoke bombs at them as they stormed the house of Rajya Sabha MP Ksh Bhabananda Singh. Members of the organization had earlier vowed to put pressure on the Centre until the Bill is scrapped.

Conclusion:

Thus, we have witnessed that the states that are not being governed by the BJP, namely, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya, despite being in alliance with the BJP, are completely opposed to the Bill, whereas the states being governed by the BJP, Namely, Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, have either adopted a pro-Bill or neutral stance, which tells us exactly where the will of the people lie.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 has presented the people of the Northeast with a dilemma that can only be solved by the government, and with the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) holding sway over most of the governments in the Northeast, it appears that the people have a tough fight on their hands. But the Northeast, although facing the crisis of obliteration, continues to hold hands and raise their collective voices against the Bill. As the fate of the region along with the Bill remains foggy, we can simply marvel at the unity shown by the people in view of the threat faced to their culture, their identity and their jati.