Albert Thyrniang
The Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (CAB) North East based political parties and NGOs celebrated when Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on February 13, the last day of the last parliamentary (Budget) session of the NDA government. For all intents and purposes the controversial Bill has lapsed and BJP units who opposed the bill and allies of the saffron party in the region were quick to claim victory. Some protagonists have been unofficially declared ‘heroes’ of North East and were accorded enthusiastic receptions from their respective supporters with garlands and bouquets on their return from the national capital where they camped till the dreaded Bill was forced to exit from the Upper House.
Congratulations must be offered to non-political groups and individuals for their anti-CAB activism. NESO, other students’ bodies, social organisations, civil societies, activists, artists, lakhs of ordinary citizens protested with all their might and creativity to vehemently oppose the dubious Bill. It was nothing short of a mass movement against the Bill that threatens the very identity and existence of the myriad ethnic groups in the North East.
Beginning from January 8, the day when the Bill was hurriedly passed in the Lok Sabha, every day the news from the region were about protests against the Bill that would alter the demography in the seven states by a hundred and eighty degree. The young, the old, the brave women of Manipur who were even injured in their clash with the security forces, the fearless people of Mizoram who manifested their dissent in strong terms, the intellectuals of Assam who had to face sedition charges, the state and national awardees who decided to return their deserved trophies to the governments in protest, all see the Bill as an attempt to dump lakhs of foreigners in the land they have inhabited indigenously for centuries. It is a victory well fought. No wonder the spontaneous celebrations and joys after the Rajya Sabha Deputy adjourned the house sine die. It was literally a sigh of relief after a long, intense stand off.
My uneasiness is with the BJP allies in the North East. They stand accused of being entities who share the ideology and agenda of the BJP and RSS otherwise how can they still be partners of the communal national party post CAB? It must be recorded that right wing leaders, who obviously include not just the BJP but the entire Sangh Parivar, did their best to table and pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Due to the lack of majority in the Upper House the BJP was forced not to introduce their vote catching project. Without an iota of doubt they would have bulldozed the Bill had they enjoyed clear majority. Till the very last moment no statement was made by the NDA government that they would not persist with the Bill considering the sentiments of the North Eastern states. In other words the creators of the Bill were very keen in passing it as it would favour the majority community at the expense of the microscopic minorities. The BJP has not given up their agenda though CAB was allowed to lapse. By being with the BJP their allies in the North East have a stake in its malevolent agenda. If they don’t share that vision then by now they would have quit the NDA, the BJP and the North East Democratic Alliance.
It is not one’s intention to undermine the efforts of the regional parties in opposing the bill. The point is that they did not succeed in convincing the BJP to either scrap the Bill or not to pass it in the Rajya Sabha. Instead the BJP partners in the North East succeeded in persuading other parties like the JDU, RJD, TDP, BJD, Shiv Sena and others to vote against the Bill (if reaches that stage of passage). The BJP was forced to give up at the last moment after it was clear that the Bill would not go through due to lack of support. The BJP top brass ignored its partners from the North East. The Prime Minister was in no mood to lend an ear to any suggestion from his North East admirers. Instead at the very epicenter of the protests, when Parliament was in session, he reiterated his party’s commitment to ‘correct the wrongs of partition’. The Home Minister cancelled his meeting with the Chief Ministers from the North East.
So, the BJP political friends from the North East did not succeed in impressing the BJP leadership about the concerns of the North East. If the BJP is least bordered about the harm to the region borne out of CAB, then why remain with that party? The BJP allies believe that CAB is a threat to demographic, social, cultural, linguistic, religious structure of the people of North East India, then why stay with the very party that seeks to destroy the foundation of their lives and existence? The Meghalaya CM, Conrad Sangma himself stated that CAB is anti-national, then what justification is offered in partnering with the Party that wants to bring in an anti-national law? Quite bizarre frankly! To brand anyone as ‘sheep in wolves’ clothing’ is too harsh but certainly the duplicity and dishonest disposition of NE BJP allies is eminently clear.
The central government did not even listen to the BJP Chief Ministers of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. So for them too to remain with their parent party in Delhi is untenable. The plea of N. Biren Singh to exempt his state from CAB was not entertained. Pema Khandu, who flip- flopped by initially supporting the Bill but later changed his stance due to mass protests in his state, could not make headway in making BJP see the reality of the North East. Whichever way we look at it, one thing is crystal clear, the BJP knows too well that their allies and units in this region are not permanent. If another government is formed at the Center after the next parliamentary election, they will shift their allegiance overnight.
As stated by this writer earlier the agenda of the BJP/RSS is now open. They desire to convert India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Earlier the agenda was in secret documents but now it is in the public domain. When BJP led NDA Government first came to power in 1998 it appointed Venkatchaliah Commission to review the Constitution. Though the report was dumped owing to wide spread opposition, the instance was an open statement of purpose from the saffron party. One year after Modi captured power, on Republic day 2015, in an advertisement that quoted the preamble of the Constitution, the words ‘Secular’ and ‘Socialist’ were conspicuously missing. Political observers read the anointing of Yogi Adityanath, who had earlier stated that ‘word secularism is the biggest lie in India.’ as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was a step towards officially declaring India a Hindu state by 2019. The Front Against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 of Assam believed that the determined push for CAB was part of this agenda. Do the allies of the BJP see CAB as a piece of legislation not linked at all to Hindutva and other agenda of right wing groups? If yes how do they dare to collaborate with agents of that agenda? Or is the mentioned agenda harmless to the North East?
To drive my point home, let me venture into some speculative questions. As shown above the North East BJP partners quite easily convinced the JDU, RJD, TDP, BJD, Shiv Sena to vote against CAB. Among them JDU, BJD and Shiv Sena are BJP coalition partners at the centre and the states. If .these parties were to be regional parties in the North East in place of the NPP, UDP, HSPDP, PDF, NDPP, would they be still allies of the BJP? The answer is an emphatic no. They would have abandoned the right wing party before January 8 or soon after the date itself.
In fine it is recapped that the allies of the BJP in North East were not directly responsible for the failure of the BJP to even table CAB in Rajya Sabha. Even if they take credit for it, after the undisputed intention of the BJP to legislate a detrimental bill, the respected NE regional parties no longer have the moral right to be associates of the Party that is keen to promote its ideology and spread its agenda at the expense of a vulnerable region. Their continuing alliance is an unstated declaration that they share the ideology and agenda of the BJP, the RSS and other Hindutva groups.