GUWAHATI: Four months elapsed since the Centre notified the rules for the implementation of contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) but only eight persons applied for citizenship in Assam under this amended law. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the media on Monday that of the eight, only two appeared for the “interview”. He quipped that if around one lakh people apply, it would be a face-saver for the government, which backed CAA, and those who opposed it. He recalled that five persons had lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests in the state. In March, the Centre had launched a portal for people to apply for citizenship under CAA. People from six non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India till December 31, 2014, can apply for citizenship under CAA.“People who came to India before 2015 have the first right to apply for citizenship under CAA. If they do not apply, we will lodge a case against them while proceedings will continue against them in the foreigners’ tribunals (FTs),” Sarma said.“This is a statutory instruction that those who came before 2015 will apply. We will deport those who came after 2015,” he added. The various FTs deal with the cases of suspected illegal immigrants. According to the last official count, they declared 1,59,353 people as foreigners till 2023. Another 96,149 cases are pending.“When we contacted many Hindu Bengali families and asked them to apply for citizenship, they said they are convinced about their Indian citizenship, stating that they entered the country prior to 1971 and they do not want to apply for citizenship under CAA. They said they will prove their citizenship in a court of law. So, that is the general sentiment among people in Assam,” Sarma said.He added that the BJP conducted even outreach programmes in the Bengali-majority Barak valley to ask people to apply for citizenship but nobody applied.According to the historic Assam Accord signed in 1985, the illegal immigrants, who entered Assam after March 25, 1971, are to be detected and deported.Over 19.06 lakh of the 3.3 crore applicants of the National Register of Citizens were left out of the final list published in 2019.
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