"Hindu refugees need a permanent address", says Assam Chief Minister.
"BJP as a party, we are always in support of the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA)," BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Kolkata, adding there is "no doubt or second thought about it".
"In Assam people have some reservations against it...and that will remain. But we have to stand for those Hindus (who are shunted out from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh or Pakistan). Sometime, I agree, this will harm me politically in Assam. But this is a humanitarian issue....
Bharat/India has a responsibility towards the Hindu migrants. We have to discharge that. Home Minister (Amit Shah) will decide when it has to be or it will be notified".
"But it is true, the BJP is committed towards CAA. In Assam, we may pay political price also...But we have not changed our stand".
"We have suffered quite a few important leaders...we have suffered in Assam. It cost us even a few seats in the elections. There were some disturbances also; but we have not changed our stand".
On his responses on the issue because West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee is opposing it, Himanta said: "Why they are opposing it...I do not understand or know. But Hindu refugees need a permanent address".
"...They cannot go back to Bangladesh". "Why some parties are opposing, what is their argument, I do not know. But at least a Bengali should not oppose it. The worst sufferers are Bengali people. In Assam we face the problem (for foreigner influx) because of this (Bengali angle)".
"In Assam, opposition parties ask me when Mamata Banerjee is opposing CAA, are you (Himanta) a more Bengali than her", Himanta said.
"They ask me why you (Assam CM) are supporting CAA", he said adding, when "Mamata Banerjee oppose CAA, in Assam I come at the receiving end. I can never become a more (or a bigger) Bengali than Mamata Banerjee".
"People ask us....if Mamata Banerjee is opposing CAA, why you are supporting it.....Are you a bigger Bengali than Mamata".
CAA may be continue to be an issue in Nagaland as former Rajya Sabha member K G Kenye, who supported the Bill in 2019, is now Power Minister in the NDPP-BJP dispensation headed by Neiphiu Rio.
'Chizami voters' in Phek district may again unwittingly find space in international media in the run up to the 2024 polls.
Real game is 42 seats in West Bengal and hence Kenye or politicians such as Kevechutso Doulo, who had to quit BJP in 2023, to contest on LJP (Ram Bilas) ticket are only 'negligible' players.
"Sir, I rise to support the amended Citizenship Bill of 2019 and I will tell this House why...," thus spoke K G Kenye in Rajya Sabha on Dec 11, 2019.
Kenye is now a NDPP member candidate from Chizami assembly segment in Phek district, a hardocre regional bastion. He is a key member of the Rio cabinet handling the prized portfolio of Power.
Elections are over for months now in Nagaland and yet Kevechutso Doulo is certainly one of the angry politicians in Nagaland upto these days.
He was denied the BJP ticket because this seat was handed over to NDPP and sadly for Doulo, the BJP high command did not utter a word in doing so.
There is a strong impression that Kenye has been accommodated by the saffron party to give a big picture message that 'yes, we honour our words and those who back us during challenging time, will be rewarded'.
In the run up to the Feb 27, 2023 polls, Doulo looked dejected but maintained his composure when he said, "It is not for me to speak...NDPP has to answer why they need the seat for a leader who backed CAA. I will not say much, it is a season of political blunders by champions like Neiphiu Rio".
(as reported in 'Nagaland Page')
Doulo put up a brilliant fight but lost finally.
People of this constituency entertained Kenye and the NDPP with golden embrace in some pockets.
The agitation against the new Citizenship law in 2019 December and early part of 2020 had two distinct dimensions and the dividing line, though crucial, was not understood in its totality.
Perhaps it is still 'not understood' properly and the debate is on.
Curiously, the CAA figured prominently in the election manifesto of Tipra Motha, a nascent tribal-based party, in Tripura where voting took place on Feb 16, 2023.
"The CAA was targeted against a particular religion...," says Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Debbarma. Interestingly, he had raised this issue though Muslims he refers to are not in any significant numbers in Tripura and so CAA helping him win seats is not much.
The fact of the matter is the amended citizenship bill allows 'persecuted migrants' from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become Indians, provided they are not Muslims.
This applies to Hindus, Christians, SIkhs, Jains and Buddhists -- meaning people who could be 'persecuted'.
BJP's argument is Muslims are not persecuted in countries like Pakistan on the ground of religious identity.
Protesters at the national level in Delhi and other places (and supported by Left and communists) said the law discriminates against people on the basis of religion. Factually this is wrong.
The "fear" in north-eastern states is something else. The tribals in the north east say extending citizenship to 'migrants from Bangladesh' will result in natives and tribal people being swamped by "outsiders".
Needless to add, 'outsiders' is a powerful political word in Nagaland and also in other parts of the northeast.
Kenye had taken the floor in Rajya Sabha (Dec 11, 2019) and said, ".....I will tell this House why I am supporting this Bill. I come from ground zero, the epicentre of this controversy. The issue has been taken off (out of) the context completely. What is raised at the regional level on the ground and what is happening at the national level has taken a completely different turn".
"...our people in the north-east have no religious bias," -- in fact Kenye was absolutely right till this.
His mistake -- even from the perspective of NPF (he was an NPF MP handpicked by Shurhozelie) was that he supported the Bill even by "voting" in its favour.
A little cleverer lawmaker would have somehow skipped that.
The furious NPF bosses led by Shurhozelie suspended him and the poor Kenye (Aja to his friends) had to jump to the NDPP.
Has Kenye become a tool in the game of chess ?
Another question will be -- who is the grandmaster ? And what does BJP or NDPP gain by making him an MLA?
He is Power Minister and there is still 'longer hours of power shortage' in Chizami too.
Now yet again in Kolkata, Assam Chief Minister spoke at some length on the CAA; and in Nagaland even a school boy should know by now that the 'senior most Chief Minister of northeast is often clueless to travel in Delhi without friend Himanta'.
I wish, I can borrow what Late Chalie Kevichusa said -- 'Hey, Imcha looks like Vamuzo' .... and say, "yes sir, yes sir.... Himanta looks like Zhaleo Rio...a true brother na".
The CAA, it is feared, will virtually 'accommodate' influx of a huge number of Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh and would add to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led party’s vote share in Assam and in West Bengal.
The 'Muslim angle' in CAA is a typical twist of Indian intellectuals and Left liberals that the media swallowed and the Left parties and Congress aggressively abused. Linking NRC to CAA is also wrong.
The BJP's argument is -- the law was enacted originally in 1955 and it caters to 'persecuted religious minorities' in Afghanistan, Bangladesh (earlier East Pakistan) and Pakistan.
It goes without saying that polarisation politics has always suited the BJP.
If someone has some doubts. Let us make it easier ---- the entire north east sends 25 MPs including (Himanta-ruled Assam only 14) and West Bengal sends 42 MPs to Lok Sabha.
The BJP won 18 of them in 2019, but the target is much higher for 2024. In Kolkata, Himanta sounded 'humble' and said: "I think 35 will be a reasonable target.... lekik Dil Maange more".
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