New Delhi: Nearly two weeks after Assam plunged into turmoil due to massive public opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal broke his silence at a press meet in Guwahati.
The Gauhati high court’s order on Thursday asking his government to lift the internet ban by 5 pm was adhered to only on December 20 morning. Soon after, Sonowal addressed mediapersons in Guwahati on the Assam situation.
The chief minister has been widely criticised in the state over the past few days for ‘maintaining a silence’ about the people’s concern regarding the Act and that it violates the principal clause of the Assam Accord – Clause 5 – and thereby allowing Hindu Bangladeshis to get citizenship in the state. His silence was perceived as supporting the Act.
Addressing these fears, Sonowal said, “Many people have been spreading misinformation that over one crore Bangladeshi Hindus will descend on Assam because of the Act. But there is a cut off date in the Act. After that date, no one can come.”
When he was asked since applicants can benefit from the Act without furnishing any documents (with the only condition being six years of continuous stay), how could one ensure that they had entered the state within the cut off date, Sonowal said, “The rules (to implement the Act) have not been set yet.”
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He also said, “No new person will come. It will benefit only those who are already residing in the state… nobody is believing me now. But when the final list of applicants will be published, you will see that they are very few in number and they can’t threaten the identity of the Assamese community.”
Though state’s finance minister had told local media that the beneficiaries would not be more than 5, 42,000, the chief minister didn’t give an exact figure at the press meet. He also did not provide a straight answer to a question on how someone who had applied to be in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) can’t seek relief under the CAA.
The NRC in Assam was updated as per the cut off date agreed in the Assam Accord of 1985: March 24, 1971, before Bangladesh was formed. The CAA is applicable to people who migrated to Assam and the rest of India until December 31, 2014.
While he accused some “vested interests” of resorting to vandalism by ‘infiltrating’ the protests, he also said that he respects the ongoing democratic agitation. The CM said he will invite the leaders of the protests to come to the table for talks. He said by doing so, he would try to find a solution.
When asked about the Act violating Clause 5 of the Accord, Sonowal, who entered public life as the president of the All Assam Students Union, a signatory of the Accord, played it down. Instead he said Clause 6 – the provision for granting constitutional safeguards to Assamese people – as “the soul” of the Accord.
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“I have recently met the committee looking into Clause 6, told it to submit the recommendations within a month,” he added. He also said the committee formed to suggest ways to grant ST status to six communities of the state has been asked to expedite the matter.
Through the press meet was broadcast live on Facebook, Sonowal also tried to reach out to the state’s public as an Assamese. He said people should not doubt his intentions as he is also one among them. “I will never allow Assamese culture, language, to be compromised… I only fought to scrap an Act (IMDT Act) detrimental to the Assamese community. I believe Assam is for the Assamese.”
He also said, “Prime minister Narendra Modi always wears an Assamese gamusa, which reiterates that he respects Assamese sentiments.”
Sonowal’s press meet was a day after at least 25 BJP MLAs met him in Guwahati and requested him to face the public. They also said that they have not been able to return to their constituencies because of the massive public backlash against the Act, and urged him to rein in “some senior ministers” and party leaders who had given “irresponsible” statements about the protesters, which had angered them further.