Assam oppn slams BJP govt over MHA order allowing non-Muslims without papers to stay in India

Guwahati, Sep 3 (PTI) Terming it as a "betrayal" of the state, opposition parties in Assam slammed the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state for the order allowing non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay in India without travel documents if they entered the country till 2024.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014, from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence in the country.

The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the CPI(M) criticised the government for the September 1 notification, extending the deadline by 10 years for the immigrants of those nations to stay in India.

AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi accused the BJP of endangering the very existence of the Assamese people for the sake of Hindu Bangladeshi votes.

"The government, driven by an obsession with vote banks, has chosen to extend the deadline at the cost of Assamese identity and survival. By extending the CAA deadline by another 10 years, the BJP has increased Assam's burden from 43 years of foreigners to 53 years. This is a grave injustice," he added.

The northeastern state neighbouring Bangladesh witnessed a violent six-year-long anti-foreigner agitation, which culminated in the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. The pact established March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for determining the citizenship of migrants, with those arriving after this date to be detected and expelled.

Assembly elections are due in Assam next year.

"This is the biggest crime ever committed against the Assamese people. The BJP government is perpetuating an unprecedented historical injustice and betraying the people of Assam," AJP President Lurinjyoti Gogoi said.

As soon as news of the notification became public, AJP leaders and workers gathered at the party's central office in Guwahati and tore copies of the order and set them on fire in a symbolic act of defiance.

Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia claimed that around five lakh illegal foreigners will stay in Assam who did not fall under the ambit of the Assam Accord.

"The extension of the deadline is an insult to the Assam Accord and the sentiment of every Assamese. We demand immediate withdrawal of the notification or at least exclude Assam from its jurisdiction," the Congress leader added.

The AAP too opposed the notification and termed the decision to introduce the rule as "dictatorial".

"There is no question of accepting this notification. It will devastate Assam. We demand the BJP government to rethink and withdraw it," AAP general secretary (organisation) Rajib Saikia said.

The CPI(M) also criticised the new notification and asked the government to withdraw it immediately.

The new notification, issued under the just-implemented Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, will come as a relief to a large number of people, especially Hindus from Pakistan, who crossed over to India after 2014 and were worried about their fate. PTI TR TR NN