Guwahati, Sept 10: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that the Hindu Bengalis in the state have not applied for citizenship under the CAA as they are confident that they are Indian citizens.
”There is no reason to suspect Hindu Bengalis as foreigners, as they have come before 1971. The CAA has no relevance in Assam,” the chief minister said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had brought them in 1971, and she had not said that they would be returned, he said.
The Hindu Bengalis are ”confident that they are Indians. So they did not apply under CAA. There have been only 12 applications so far, and only three persons have been granted citizenship,” Sarma said.
Five people died during protests against the CAA in the state, but only 12 applied for citizenship under that legislation, he said.
There has been no application after the Immigration and Foreigners’ (Exemption) Order, 2025, came into effect, the CM said.
Under this order, members of minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — who came to India till December 31, 2024, to escape religious persecution will be allowed to stay in the country without a passport or other travel documents.
According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which came into force last year, members of these persecuted minorities who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, will be granted Indian citizenship.
”If there are lakhs of applications, we will then consider the matter and take necessary steps, but as of now, this is not relevant in the state,” he said.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and opposition parties have alleged that the Centre has betrayed the state, as the Assam Accord had set March 1971 as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal migrants. While the CAA extended it to 2014, this order has now extended it to 2024.
They alleged that this was a ploy of the BJP government to give citizenship to Hindu Bengalis who have come to the state from Bangladesh till recently.
The Assam Accord was signed on August 15, 1985, after a six-year-long violent anti-foreigner movement, which claimed the lives of thousands. (PTI)
