PM Narendra Modi suggests decision to amend Citizenship Act final

Guwahati, February 9. 2019:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Northeast was met with huge protests yesterday by indigenous peoples’ organizations such as the AASU and KMSS. It was because the demands of these organizations to scrap the amendment of the Citizenship Act of 1955 has seemingly fallen on deaf ears thus far.

Yet, despite all the controversies and the BJP’s seemingly firm intentions to pass the Bill, hope still lingered in the minds of many that the Bill would be scrapped. In fact, when Modi’s trip to the Northeast was announced, many were expecting that perhaps Modi was here to withdraw the Bill, but the scenes that unfolded today conveyed the exact opposite message. The Prime Minister today stated in no unclear terms that the Bill will be amended at any cost. “It is not simply an issue of the Northeast, it is an issue for the whole of India”, he reiterated.

Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma first took the stage and mocked the protestors of the Bill, thus driving a dagger of deception into the collective voices of the indigenous Assamese. Modi, meanwhile, thumped his own chest and enumerated the achievements of the BJP Government.

The Prime Minister further took credit for the conferring of ‘Bharat Ratna’ to Assam icon Bhupen Hazarika and assured of the implementation of the sixth schedule of the Assam Accord and allocation of ST status to six communities of Assam. It is evident from the Prime Minister’s speech that he is trying his darnedest to placate the masses who have risen up in rebellion with these pre-election ‘lollipops’.

After all the hue-and-cry over the Bill, the Prime Minister’s assurances to the people that the Bill would not harm their interests sounded hollow and although this visit was meant to allay the fears of the people of Northeast over the Bill, it has driven the people further into a sea of insecurity and fears.