The BJP has pledged to release a “corrected” version of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) but avoided any reference to the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
Assam was the first State to oppose the CAA as protesters said it violated the spirit of the 1985 Assam Accord that prescribed the midnight of March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal immigrants.
The CAA seeks to fast-track the citizenship of non-Muslims who fled religious persecution in three neighbouring countries and took refuge before December 31, 2014.
Clause 6 of the Assam Accord guarantees Constitutional safeguards for the indigenous communities, apparently as a reward for “accepting the load” of migrants between 1951 (when the first NRC was done) and March 1971.
Releasing the BJP manifesto containing “10 commitments” in Guwahati on Tuesday, party president J.P. Nadda said the objective of publishing a “corrected” version was to enlist genuine Indian citizens while identifying illegal migrants and residents who could not substantiate citizenship claims.
“We will work towards protecting the rights of the Assamese people with a corrected NRC, which means taking into account the mandate given by the Supreme Court. We will protect the genuine Indian citizens and detect the infiltrators so that Assam can stay Assam,” he said.
The final draft of the NRC was published on August 31, 2019, soon after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. The document left out 19.06 lakh of 3.30 crore applicants.
Unhappy with the outcome, the BJP has been demanding a re-verification of the NRC. It has promised to get it done if its alliance government is voted back to power.
‘Flood-free Assam’
Among the other commitments are ensuring a flood-free Assam through dredging of rivers and building large reservoirs for excess rainwater, strengthening namghars (community prayer halls) and creating a taskforce to recover lands of satras (Vaishnav monasteries) and places of worship of tribal people from illegal encroachment, ensuring food self-sufficiency, creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
The BJP has promised to distribute land deeds to all landless Indian citizens of the State in a phased manner. It also said it will bring in appropriate laws to “tackle and end the menace of ‘land jihad’” as well as ‘love jihad’.
“We will formulate an Assam Deradicalisation Policy to identify and strictly quash organisations and individuals from fanning the flames of communal exclusion and separatism,” the manifesto read.
In the same vein, the party promised to add technology to border vigilance to “clamp down on infiltration from the Bangladesh border,” besides establishing an anti-insurgency school in eastern Assam in consultation with the Counter Insurgency and Terrorism School by the Army in southern Assam’s Silchar.
The BJP also promised a “special socio-economic and caste census for the identification of indigenous Muslim communities such as Goria, Moria, Deshi, Jolah, Maimol and Kachari in order to extend the benefits of various State and Central development schemes focusing on minority welfare”.
Topping the agenda on protecting the rights of local people was the assurance to take ahead the process of granting Scheduled Tribe status to six communities – Tai-Ahom, Koch-Rajbongshi, Moran, Matak, Chutia and “Tea Tribes (Adivasi)”.
The manifesto did not mention the CAA, but Mr. Nadda said the party’s stand on it was unchanged.
“Parliament passed the CAA. It will be implemented when it needs to be,” he said, insisting implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord was under process.
Assam goes to the three-phase polls for the 126-member Assembly from March 27. The counting will be held on May 2.