GUWAHATI: A group of distinguished senior citizens and social activists have drawn the attention of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on the “impending threat” posed to the resources of Assam in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 which became effective earlier this month.
In a letter to the Supreme Court CJI, the group led by Sahitya Academy awardee, litterateur and social activist, Hiren Gohain, pointed out that the grant of citizenship to a huge number of foreigners would put immense pressure on the scant resources of the state and its native population.
“The gravity of the situation may be gauged from the fact while the density of population of India is 375 per sq km, in Assam it has soared to 400, and given the numerous water bodies and hills, the actual density may be even as much as 1000 per sq km,” the letter to the CJI, read.
The group also pointed out the threat posed by unchecked migration from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, which they said, “had been compared by the Supreme Court to a silent invasion following which the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam was expeditiously prepared under the supervision of the apex court.”
“When a democratically elected government in any country arbitrarily and insensitively ignores justified public anxieties and apprehensions, and seeks to suppress the reasonable alarm with denial and severe repression, the public reaction to such an attitude tends to be a vast explosion of frustration and anger. It is also lamentably familiar that an arbitrary government tends to cry down the justified public outrage and anger,” the letter to the CJI, read.
The group further appealed to the apex court for careful consideration of conditions for restoring peace and sanity in Assam in the interest of justice and healthy democracy, while also drawing the attention of the court to “the attempt of the present government to characterise the entire situation as mere violence by mischievous elements.”
“The younger generation is particularly aggrieved and agitated by certain issues casting a dark shadow on their lives,” it stated in the letter.
