Citizenship promise raises stakes in Barak Valley

Silchar: The Modi government's plan to grant citizenship to refugees belonging to Hindu and other minority communities who came to India from Bangladesh due to religious persecution has a lot to do with its stakes in the election, especially in the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley of Assam.
The Barak Valley will vote on April 4 in the first phase along with other constituencies in upper Assam and the hills.The valley along the India-Bangladesh border has 15 assembly constituencies with more Muslims than Hindus. Bengali-speaking people, whether Hindus or Muslims, often face questions about their nationality in the state, which saw a massive six-year-long anti-foreigner agitation in the '70s and '80s.
The people here are, however, unhappy with the central government's delay in fulfilling its promises.
An official notification, issued by the Union home ministry on September 7 last year, had said the central government had decided to exempt Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals, belonging to minority communities, from relevant provisions under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946 on humanitarian grounds. The exemption would apply to those who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 and either do not have relevant documents or have documents that have expired. The central government, accordingly, issued two notifications in the official gazette under the two acts.
However, several people here alleged that this failed to curb the harassment of Bengali-speaking people by the police. It just continues under a different, convenient name. "People are being harassed in the name of detection and identification of foreigners," said Sadhan Purkayasthya, a social worker. "More than 150 citizens have been languishing in the detention camp at Silchar," he added.
Many NGOs here, including Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan, expressed their dissatisfaction with the delay in granting citizenship to displaced Bengalis despite publication of the gazette notification. The NGO has urged the Prime Minister to introduce a comprehensive bill in the parliament to mitigate the 'ongoing offensive on the Bengalis and other non-Assamese people living in Assam'.
The political blame game is on, however. BJP national general secretary (organization) Ram Madhav at a programme in Silchar on Thursday said the Congress has hindered the amendment of the act in the house. The Congress rejected the charge and blamed BJP for the delay.
At an election rally in Silchar, chief minister Tarun Gogoi alleged that AGP and BJP are both anti-Bengali. He said the BJP state president, Sarbananda Sonowal, was responsible for scrapping the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983, an act which helped Indian Bengalis protect themselves in the period when 'detection of foreigners' had come into focus earlier.