The BJP national executive resolution pushing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, while promising to deport the ‘ghuspathias’ (infiltrators) from Bangladesh has triggered a wave of resentment and anxiety about radicalisation of sub-nationalist elements in Assamese society.

“It’ll strengthen the hands of Paresh Baruah (who heads the armed wing of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam ULFA) and his calls to arms,” Anup Chetia, who heads the moderate section of ULFA, told BusinessLine .

According to Chetia, the BJP is seeking to appease its Bangladeshi Hindu vote bank, a chunk of which has not been included in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), by pushing a legislation that goes against the essence of the Assam Accord.

“The BJP is undermining the Assamese identity to help Bangladeshis. They want to separate Hindu and Muslim infiltrators. Over 40 lakh people who are not in the NRC include a large number of Hindus. Through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the BJP is pushing the 1971 cut-off date to 2015 specifically for Hindu Bangladeshis.

“They want to run a parallel process which won’t achieve anything except further complicate the issue of citizenship in Assam,” Chetia said.

At the BJP’s national executive on Sunday, the party passed a resolution hailing the final draft of the NRC in Assam. The resolution underlined the BJP’s intention to identify and deport all infiltrators while simultaneously protecting all Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Sikhs being persecuted in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

While Chetia warned of this move leading to a resurgence of armed insurgency in Assam, the BJP’s alliance partner, the AGP, said it will protest against the move. Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta told BusinessLine that his party will “strongly oppose” the BJP’s “divisive strategy”.

“We had told them earlier too that they shouldn’t play with sensitive issues for political ends. When the cut-off date for accepting as citizens who came before 1971 has been agreed upon by all stakeholders, where is the need to now say Hindus are exempt from this cut-off?” asked Mahanta.

The feeling among those who were part of the prolonged agitation for Assamese identity under threat from Bengalis and sovereignity, like ULFA, is that the BJP is worried about the exclusion of a large number of Bangladeshi Hindus from the NRC and is trying to reassure them that their interests would be protected through the Citizenship Bill. These stakeholders are also, almost unanimously, of the view that such a move is nearly impossible to implement and would lead to chaos in a diverse society like Assam.

“Anyone who came after 1971 has to go. We’re very clear. They can be Hindus, Muslims or anyone else. Assam is for Assamese and we have been more than generous in lettiing 1971 as the cut-off date. The BJP can’t act arbitrarily and push their agenda here,” said Samujjal Bhattacharya, Advisor, All Assam Students Union (AASU).

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