Citizenship bill a check gate against influx, says Sonowal

GUWAHATI: Offering his first defence of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday said the proposed amendment would not "open the floodgates to migrants", as had been said, but would, on the contrary, be a "check gate".
"Some sections are spreading propaganda on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, saying that if the bill becomes an Act, Assam will turn into a breeding ground for illegal migrants," Sonowal said at a Tiwa tribal festival in Morigaon district on Saturday. He added, "Let me make it clear - the proposed bill was brought to Parliament for the entire nation. Simply passing the bill will not warrant citizenship rights for the people."

Sonowal said the bill only provides for applying for Indian citizenship after fulfilling three conditions - including establishment of religious persecution their country of origin, either Bangladesh or Afghanistan or Pakistan. Besides, a person seeking citizenship has to apply to the district magistrate and not to the Centre. "First, the person seeking citizenship has to be from either of the six religious groups - Hindu, Christianity, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Sikh - and originating from either Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan. The cutoff date given in the bill is December 31, 2014, which means that any person wanting to apply for citizenship has to prove they have been living in India for at least seven years till December 31, 2014," Sonowal said.

"The person also has to prove that he is a victim of religious persecution in his country of origin and if he fulfils all these conditions, only then can one apply," he added.

Reiterating his commitment to "protect the interests of the indigenous communities of the state", Sonowal appealed to the All Assam Students' Union and the state's intelligentsia cooperate with the plan to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which promises protection of the interests of the ethnic communities of Assam.

He said, "The previous governments in the state as well as in the Centre only paid lip service to serve the interests of the people of Assam. The present central government took keen interest for the protection of the rights and privileges of the people of Assam and therefore, the high-powered has been constituted to implement Clause 6."