Muslims were excluded from the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was approved by the Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019, concluding the legislative process to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, or Jains.
Afnan Habib | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — The Northeast Students’ Organization (NESO), which is the largest student organisation in the region and consists of eight major student bodies, observed a ‘Black Day’ on Sunday across the region on the third anniversary of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.
The All-Assam Students Union (AASU), Nagaland Students Federation, All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union, Khasi Students Union, Garo Students Union, All Manipur Students Union, Mizo Zirlai Pawl and Tripura Students Federation led the protests in the states, Samujjal Bhattacharjya, NESO’s advisor said.
The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019, concluding the legislative process to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, or Jains. Muslims, however, were excluded.
The amendment was criticized globally for discriminating on the basis of religion, particularly for excluding Muslims. Due to people’s fear of losing their political, cultural, and land rights by granting citizenship to immigrants, Assam and the northeastern states saw huge protests in December 2019.
According to Samuel Jyrwa, the chairman of NESO, December 11 will always be remembered as a ‘Black Day’ in the Northeast.
“This observation is to give a message to the government of India that we are against this Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 and to remind our people of yet another political injustice that the Centre perpetrated on the indigenous peoples of the northeast,” the NESO chairman said.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad, a local political party, marked it as the day the Center “cheated” the Northeast three years ago. “Our members and supporters organized a two-hour demonstration against the harsh CAA,” Jagadish Bhuyan, the Party’s general secretary, said.
Afnan Habib is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He tweets @afnanhabib_