The Seven sister states of India - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, have been known for its unique landscapes, languages, cultures, and identities. These seven sisters, resting on the lap of nature's beauty, couldn't have imagined that their landscapes would be quaked by the nightmare and ought to witness the unrest and the series of agitates on its grounds as these states have called its unique landscapes to be the testament to witness the unification to unleash its rebellion face to degrade and to unanimously stand against the authoritarian regime which directed and passed the biased Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Assam, the biggest state in the Northeastern part of India, leads the rest of the states with the torch of fire and with the baton of unrest. The heritage and culture-rich city of Guwahati become the centerpiece of the revolt. The streets of Assam have been occupied by the outrage staged by the protestors who have been fiercely voicing against the passage of the biased Citizenship Bill that has been testifying the patience and silence of the sisters. Nature filled Assam has been shaken by the footsteps and uproars of the protestors and their movements which have been united to fire the bill by labeling it as an unconstitutional and possess a threat to its tribal communities.  

Its been over a week since Assam has taken the charge to demean and to degrade the bill as the state has become a protest-ful state from being a peaceful state and despite stationing the armed forces and imposing the curfew, the agitators seemingly marching ahead with their unanimous voice by defying the imposition and restrictions.

What's the reason behind the heated outrageous?

The answer lies in the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Bill, that was proposed and tabled by the authoritarian government at the Center. This controversial bill of the BJP government had ignited the dreadful impacts particularly in the Northeastern states and to cement the blockade, the people of all ages - women, students, and children of most of the northeastern states had occupied the streets to voice against the bill that they claim as a threat for their lives and rights whereas the authoritarian government has recapped its Kashmiri episodes to Assam through restricting the internet services and deploying the military forces from Jammu and Kashmir to the Northeast state.

What's the background of the bill?

The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship and provides the status of Indian national for the non-Muslim refugees of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who fled their countries after facing series of religious persecution and suppression at their homeland. By consenting the legislation that amends the Citizenship Act 1955, the bill would induct Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis who migrated to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan till December 31st, 2014 as Indian citizens by revoking their identities as 'illegal immigrants'. While inducting the refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, the bill literally or intentionally ignored the suppressed and threatened minorities living in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Myanmar houses Rohingya Muslims and Hindus who are minorities and have been reportedly persecuted by the armed forces so do the minority Tamil people in Sri Lanka, who have living under the drones and camps of the army and still waiting for Justice. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, that was crafted and drafted with biased equality to attain the party's goal of 'One Nation, One Religion' by fouling all the parameters and defying the constitution - from where the majoritarianism gets the fullest shape as 'authoritarianism'.

Why Assam is concerned about the bill?

Most of the Assamese fear that the bill would open the gates for lakhs of Hindus from Bangladesh to apply for Indian citizenship and the inflow would likely endanger the native tribal communities, trouble the resources and threaten the local language, culture, and tradition. The protestors claim that the bill would pour more migrants to the state which already houses lakhs of Bangladesh migrants and they express their fear that it would demean the Assam Accord that was signed in 1985. As per the Accord, the government should detect and deport the foreigners and migrants in Assam who infiltered to the state after 1971 and the agitators oppose the bill and its new cut-off year 2014 that would citizenship for more migrants, as the violation of the Assam Accord and the Clause 6 of the accord which guarantees to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the native Assamese people.

While Assam fears to lose its identity due to infiltration, the other Northeastern states eye to uphold the Inner Line Permit system as most of the areas of the Seven states have been mapped under the ILP system that makes mandatory in acquiring the permits to visit these areas and the people living outside such declared areas of the states are entitled to visit only with the permit and they are not permitted to get settled in the areas with the view of protecting the tribal communities and the people in these areas fear that the inflow of Bangladesh Hindus would severely devastate the ILP areas as they might let into the areas without the permit, that had now erupted the protests and dismay among the people of these seven states.

Guwahati has become the epicenter of the protest as it has been intensifying despite the presence of the armed forces. On Wednesday, after the Rajya Sabha had cleared the bill, the protests were enhanced across the northeastern parts. The police in Guwahati had fired bullets and tear gas as groups of protestors demonstrating in the streets by violating the curfew and deployment of tear gas and bullets had killed two people while eleven had injured with the bullet wounds. Although the leaders from the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Assam Chief Minister had urged the people to calm and to refrain from the protests, the agitators had set ablaze the house of the local lawmaker of the ruling BJP while some of the rebels attempted to set fire for four railway stations in Assam following which the trains were suspended.

On Thursday, President Ram Nath Kovind had consented the bill amidst the rise of violence and outcry and the Union Home Ministry had deployed around 2000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces on Friday and the people of Assam had shown no way that they would backtrack from their protests until the authoritarian government assures to ear their demand and to protect and preserve their identities and tradition. However, by efforting to draft such a biased bill against the constitution that has now been shaped as law, the Central government is certainly remaining on the ship of majority as Amit Shah claimed that the majority of people have voted for BJP as per the poll promises and his speech has been strongly showcasing that the government is not for the minorities and not for the indigenous people.

Also read: https://thenewstuff.in/citizenship-amendment-bill-blunder-thunders