Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was implemented by the Center on March 11, 2019. Non-Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan will be granted Indian citizenship. In Assam, this decision has sparked intense responses. The Guwahati Police has issued a warning against causing damage during protests and threatened to take legal action against anybody who do so.
A state-wide warning has been sent by the Guwahati Police to agitated groups planning a “Sarbatmak Hartal (complete strike)”. It has stated that if any property, public or private is damaged, including properties owned by railroads and national highways, or if any person is hurt during the protests, legal action would be taken under appropriate provisions of law including Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
The Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, warned against bandhs (strikes) that disobey court decisions. He added that political parties ran the possibility of having their registration revoked for noncompliance. He maintained that the proper channels for challenging the CAA were the legal ones, not street protestors.
The opposition parties and local groups have urged for non-violent protests in Assam, where protests have broken out in small areas. This is another area that the center will be monitoring. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which spearheaded a six-year campaign in 1979 calling for the identification and expulsion of undocumented immigrants, has declared its intention to challenge the law both inside and outside of the legal system. On Monday, the AASU, along with thirty non-political indigenous groups, burned copies of the CAA and coordinated rallies in Guwahati, Kamrup, Barpeta, and Dibrugarh.
2019 saw the death of five individuals as a result of anti-CAA protests in Assam. While the CAA was opposed in other regions because it was perceived as discriminating against Muslims, in Assam, where migration has always been a debatable issue, protesters are opposed to giving citizenship to any foreigner who entered the state after March 24, 1971, regardless of their religion.
