Manindra Das, a 72-year-old fisherman from Assam’s Cachar district, was arrested as an illegal migrant in 2019 after a Foreigners Tribunal (FT) revoked his Indian citizenship. Ironically, despite being declared a foreigner and detained, Das’s name appeared in all three drafts of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the voters list prepared by the Election Commission (EC).
Das, who has been a regular voter in Assam and received a grant under the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), believes that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government will eventually grant him citizenship. He has voted for the BJP in the past on this hope and plans to do so again this year.
Social activist Kamal Chakraborty, who is helping Das and other families with citizenship issues, said that many declared foreigners have the right to vote and end up voting for ruling parties hoping for acceptance as Indians.
According to Kishore Kumar Bhattacharjee from the Assam-based organization, Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC), the “D Voters” issue, NRC, and now CAA are all instruments of the government to create fear among the common people.
“D Voters” or “Doubtful Voters” are those identified during electoral roll revision as having pending cases with the FT or declared as foreigners by the Tribunal.
Bhattacharjee said that after the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) Act was abolished by the Supreme Court in 2005, the citizenship issue became a serious problem for those who had to prove their Indian citizenship. He added that CAA is creating another class of questionable citizens, which is another mechanism of creating fear that gives the ruling party an advantage.
Barak Valley, which includes three districts (Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi), has two Lok Sabha seats, Silchar and Karimganj. The Silchar seat was designated reserved following the delimitation process.
A large percentage of Barak Valley’s population are Bengali-speaking and celebrated when the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in both Houses in 2019. Many of them migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
However, when the CAA rules were announced, many expressed disappointment because the rule says whoever wants to apply for citizenship under it has to prove that their ancestors were living in Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan.
Organizations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed All Assam Bengali Hindu Association (AABHA) wrote letters to the central government to amend the rules to make the process easier.
Basudev Sharma from AABHA said: “We wanted unconditional citizenship for Hindus but with these rules, it is not possible. We have appealed to the Prime Minister to allow self-declaration as a valid document because most victims of partition could not bring their documents while leaving East Pakistan due to religious persecution”.
The BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha candidate from Silchar, Rajdeep Roy, whose grandfather was a victim of religious persecution in East Pakistan, won the election by a large margin. He is unable to contest the election this year because of delimitation but is campaigning for the party’s candidate Parimal Suklabaidya.
Roy said that CAA has given BJP an electoral advantage because “Hindus are now feeling safe under BJP”.
However, opposition leaders say that people are supporting the BJP because of the fear they have created over the rules.
Sushmita Dev, a Rajya Sabha MP and senior journalist, said that with CAA and NRC, BJP is trying to suppress the voices of common people, especially the Hindus. She added that the BJP’s failure to complete NRC and the CAA rules have disappointed Bengali Hindus, and the party’s attempt to use these issues to gain votes may not work anymore.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma criticized West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee after her recent promise to ban CAA and withdraw NRC if the TMC was voted to power, saying the BJP will solve the “D Voters issue” in Assam in the next six months.
The Silchar Lok Sabha seat has over 13 lakh voters, around 40% of whom are Muslim, according to the BJP. In Karimganj’s 14 lakh voters, around 65% of whom are Muslim.
The chief of BJP’s Karimganj district committee, Subrata Bhattacharjee, said that CAA has put the party in a strong position, claiming that the influx of illegal migrants has increased the Muslim population in Barak Valley, but CAA has changed this, and Hindus now feel protected under the BJP.
CM Sarma has said that only one person from Assam has applied for citizenship, arguing that it shows people are depending on the BJP instead of the law. Suklabidya explained that many people want to apply under the provisions of the CAA but have not yet done it because of the complicated process.
Congress party candidate from Karimganj, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, who is also a senior advocate at the Gauhati high court, claimed that with CAA and delimitation, the BJP has triggered anger among Hindus in the Barak Valley. Choudhry said the BJP is trying to create different classes based on religion and language but this attempt might not work anymore.
In the slum areas of Silchar town, many people expressed dissatisfaction over NRC and CAA, saying that they would vote for the BJP because they don’t see any other alternative. They believe that Modi is trying to solve the citizenship issues, even though he has not yet succeeded.
