CAA is on its way, Assam MLA Emmanuel Mosahary assures former Bengali Hindu militants

BAKSA: Almost a year after laying down their arms in front of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, around one hundred cadres of the National Liberation Front of Bengalis (NLFB), a militant group of Hindu Bengalis in Assam convened in Assam's Baksa district urging the Government to fulfill their long-pending set of demands. The former militants, led by Chairman Amarjit Paul, met local MLA Emmanuel Mosahary, who assured them that their issues would soon be resolved, as the BJP-led Government is going to bring the Citizenship Amendment Act (or CAA) and implement it "soon."

The implementation of the controversial 'CAA' has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic as the Centre's efforts have been directed towards fighting the virus. However, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya recently proclaimed that the Act will be enacted in poll-bound West Bengal soon.

After the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, meant to naturalize non-Muslim migrants from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, as many as 303 cadres of the NLFB -- including its Chairman Amarjit Paul -- deposited their weapons before Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in January of 2020.

Mosahary, addressing the former militants, said, "If you want a solution to your problems, you should go ahead via politics, and the policies that are decided upon, shall be implemented at the grassroots by the concerned officials."

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At the end of yesterday's meeting, the former cadres resolved to meet Assam's Chief Minister . "We actually came here to discuss the resolution of some issues of the community, as well as the rehabilitation of the cadres. As much of the work has been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, we have reached a decision to approach Mr. Sonowal and urge him to fasttrack resolution of these issues," a cadre told reporters on the sidelines of the programme.

The group was formed on December 18, 2011 in Western Assam's Kokrajhar district (bordering West Bengal) to fight against the alleged harassment meted out to Bengalis in the name of detection of foreigners.

The group decided to lay down arms after the BJP-led government in Assam promised that the Hindu Bengalis, who were left out of the NRC, would be granted citizenship under the contentious 'CAA', which triggered resentment across Assam.

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