GUWAHATI: Amidst the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) notification, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he would resign if anyone, who did not apply for the inclusion of his or her name in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), gets Indian citizenship.
“Assam has witnessed development and progress after a long time and therefore, there should not be an atmosphere of agitation now. If a single new person, who did not apply for NRC, gets citizenship, Himanta Biswa Sarma will be the first to resign. I am also a son of Assam,” Sarma told journalists.
He then rephrased his statement by saying that he would resign “if anyone, other than those who were left out of the NRC, gets Indian citizenship.”
The CAA will ensure citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India till December 31, 2014, and what Sarma essentially meant is that nobody, who came after December 31, 2014, will get Indian citizenship.
“The CAA legislation is a stale news. Only its rules were notified yesterday. The illegal immigrants, who want Indian citizenship, can apply via a portal from today,” Sarma said.
He slammed those who had claimed that Assam would have to bear the burden of lakhs of immigrants.
“Some said 20 lakh people will become CAA beneficiaries. Some others said one crore people will come and they will be all over Assam’s tea estates. We will know in 45 to 60 days if thousands of them or lakhs of them are applying. It will prove who is right, we or those who said lakhs of people will come,” the Assam CM said.
He said if lakhs of people apply, he would himself oppose it.
“If 20 lakh people apply for citizenship, I will also agitate. There could be 50,000-80,000 applicants in the (Bengali-majority) Barak Valley. But who in the (Assamese-majority) Brahmaputra Valley will go and say I am a foreigner, give me citizenship,” Sarma said with a guarantee that no new entrant could obtain Indian citizenship.
“All this while, I was silent on the five martyrs (they had lost their lives during anti-CAA protests in 2019). The people of Assam will know who are responsible for their deaths,” the CM said.
He summed up by saying, “People who entered Assam before 2014 will apply. I believe it will be a very small number. There is no reason for worry in Assam.”