Himanta Biswa Sarma says CAA 'completely insignificant' in Assam

NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is completely significant in the state as there will be "least number of applicants".

"CAA is completely insignificant in Assam; the state will have the least number of applications on the portal," CM Himanta Sarma said in a press conference.

Himanta has also said that he will be the first to step down if even one person, who has not applied for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, gets citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).

The Assam chief minister said the Act is very clear that the cut-off date for application of citizenship is December 31, 2014, and in Assam, with the updation of the National Register of Citizens, people who applied for it and did not find their names in that list, will only apply for CAA.

The chief minister's statement comes days after the central government notified Rules for the CAA, which would grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants who entered India on or before December 31 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Act has been a major point of contention in Assam, which witnessed widespread protest in 2019 after the citizenship amendment turned into the law of the land. The protest also entailed incidents of violence in the state, including the state capital Guwahati.

Hours after the Union government implemented the CAA on Monday, the state government tightened security arrangements in the city and at other vulnerable places across the state as protests broke out after the Centre rolled out the Rules.

As the police deployed commandos to patrol the streets in the city, it brought back memories of the violence two days after the bill was passed by the Lok Sabha more than three years ago, resulting in the death of five persons in police firing.

Additionally, the law will not be applicable to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, and in areas covered under “The Inner Line” notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 (states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland).