Call to scrap CAA after SC upholds validity of Section 6A of Citizenship Act in Assam

 The section is a consequence of the Assam Accord, which says that immigrants who came on or after March 25, 1971, should be detected and deported

Umanand Jaiswal, TT, Guwahati, 18.10.24 :  Most organisations and political parties in Assam, from the All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) to the Opposition Congress, have lauded the Supreme Court judgment upholding Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, saying it has “recognised” the Assam Accord of 1985.

Section 6A allows citizenship to be granted to immigrants from the then East Pakistan who entered Assam before March 25, 1971. The section is a consequence of the Assam Accord, which says that immigrants who came on or after March 25, 1971, should be detected and deported.

Many here believe the judgment would bolster their case against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and boost the speedy implementation of an error-free National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The CAA seeks to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from certain neighbouring countries who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to flee religious persecution.

Aasu, one of the signatories to the tripartite Assam Accord, said the apex court judgment had underlined the “relevance” of the Assam Accord and the cut-off date of March 25, 1971.

“We now want the Centre and the state government to implement all clauses of the Assam Accord in a time-bound manner to resolve the foreigner problem for all time to come,” Aasu chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya told The Telegraph.

“The court ruling has upheld the relevance and importance of both the Assam Andolan (movement) and the Assam Accord.”

In a 4:1 majority ruling, the apex court upheld the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, as “rational” and the Assam Accord as a “political solution to the problem” of growing immigration into the state.

State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah welcomed the judgment. “(The Centre and state government) should immediately implement Clause 6 (identify and deport illegal immigrants), scrap the CAA and implement the NRC,” he said.

Senior AJP leaders Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Jagadish Bhuyan, both former Aasu leaders, too sought the scrapping of the CAA saying it “contradicts” the Assam Accord by providing citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India before 2015.

“The Assam Accord... has been recognised by the Supreme Court. We demand that the CAA be scrapped from Assam as it violates the Assam Accord,” Bhuyan said.

Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi and Assam Public Works leader Aabhijeet Sharma too pushed for an error-free NRC, which has not been notified since its publication in 2019.

The BJP, which rules the state, was yet to react. The AGP, an offshoot of the Assam Movement, and Aminul Islam of the Opposition AIUDF welcomed the verdict.