Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma declared on Tuesday that he would be the first to resign if even one person, who has not applied for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, is granted citizenship. The statement comes in the wake of protests in Assam following the Centre’s notification for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). Sarma, addressing the concerns of protesters, emphasized that those who arrived in India after 2014 would not be granted citizenship, and the number of such applicants would be negligible.
Protests have erupted across Assam against the implementation of the CAA, with demonstrators burning effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and copies of the law. The AJYCP and Congress participated in these protests, expressing their opposition to the CAA’s implementation. Sarma stressed that the time had come for applications on the portal, and the data would reveal the factual accuracy of claims made by those opposing the Act. He urged both protesters and supporters to await the outcome of the applications on the portal.
The CAA rules, recently issued by the central government, will grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived in India until December 31, 2014. The law covers Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians. The CAA had not been enforced until now as the rules had not been notified.
