After the Government of India (GoI) implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the Assamese intensified their protests against it to save their culture, traditions and identity.
“We are worried about the erosion of our culture, corission of our language and it is another reason we are opposing this Act which is detrimental to Assamese, irrespective of the religion they belong to,” says Upendrajit Kalita, a citizen of Assam.
Upendrajit Kalita, a 48 years old resident of Guwahati, Assam, spoke about the perspective of the Assamese and why they are against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA,] 2019.
Kalita, who works at an advertising agency and was a part of the historic Assam Movement by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) for the agreement of Assam Accord, shared the concerns of the Assamese.
Mr. Kalita said, “In other parts of India, people may feel their religious identity is more important, but here in Assam we are Assamese first, and then anything else. So, we are against CAA, It will hurt the interests of us Assamese.”
In a population of 35 million, only 48 % of the people, accounting for 13 million, are Assamese speaking, whereas 30 % of the people are Bengali Hindus and others. In a few regions, Bengali Hindus are dominant and Assamese is not accepted as the State language. These figures are one of the major concerns of the people of Assam. They believe if the Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan come to their State and become citizens, it would make the Assamese a minority in their own State, giving superiority to the Bengalis.
The people of Assam, who are shouting slogans against the Central Government, are trying to save their identity and culture, which are going to be in danger if the GoI proceeds with CAA, 2019.
The CAA would give citizenship to approximately 130 crore citizens of India who came from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan on or before the 31st of December, 2014, based on their religion.
While the citizens of Assam are protesting against the Act from the point of view of culture and traditions, people residing in places like Hyderabad, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal are doing so on the grounds of religion.
The citizens of the aforementioned states deemed the Act is against the idea of secular India and said it is a violation of the Constitution of India.
Both northeastern states as well as other regions of India are protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but the reason for both the protests is different.
As of now, the Central Government shut down the internet services in Assam and is trying to control the situation by assigning the police force to do so.
Stay tuned for further.
