With President Kovind’s Assent, CAB Becomes An Act

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On the night of the 12th of December, Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. 

With the assent of President Kovind, the Bill is now an act.  According to an official notification, the Act came into effect with its publication in the official gazette on the 12th of December.

On the 12th of December, citizens of the northeastern states continued protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha recently.

Introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, promises citizenship to refugees who are Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and are living in India since or before the 31st of December 2014.

Though the Bill became an Act, people of Assam gathered on the streets in protest against it.  On the 12th of December, two citizens of Assam even lost their lives during the protest. Due to the Assam Police opening fire on the protestors, the two individuals suffered bullet injuries.  They were rushed to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for treatment. While one of the two individuals was declared brought dead at the hospital, the other succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment.  The identities of the two deceased are still unknown.

Assamese public, students’ bodies and various other organisations are on the streets, shouting slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central Government for passing the Bill.  On the 13th of December, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) is scheduled to go on a 10 hour hunger strike to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

While the curfew was relaxed in Dibrugarh, Assam, for 5 hours, starting from 8:00 A.M., to 1:00 P.M., Meghalaya is still under curfew.  Mobile and broadband services in the area are completely shut down.

The reason the Assamese are against the Bill is because they fear if the Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims flee to Assam and dominate, their culture and identity would be in danger.  Another fear is a reduction in the percentage of Assamese and the increased population of Bengali speaking people in the State. The Assamese are afraid if Bangla speakers are in Assam or any northeastern states, they could easily affect the percentage of Assamese speaking people.  The fear originates from the fact a similar situation arose in Tripura in the past.

To put forth their concerns, a delegation from Tripura, on the evening of the 12th of December, met Amit Shah.  Mr. Shah assured them he would address their concerns and do something regarding the same.

The Meghalaya CM, who was scheduled to meet Mr. Shah, could not visit Delhi and had to cancel his visit due to the protests.

Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, who was scheduled to visit Guwahati, Assam, is also expected to cancel his trip to India in the wake of the ongoing curfew and protests.

Jiji Press, a Japanese news agency, reported the PM of Japan is considering cancelling his trip to India due to the ongoing protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.  Mr. Abe is scheduled to leave for India on the 15th of December. According to his planned trip, Guwahati is one of the locations where he would have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Apart from Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi also protesting against the Bill.

The opposition, the Indian National Congress (INC,) criticised the BJP for introducing the Bill as it could possibly could division amongst the citizens of India.

The Assam Police and National forces were deployed in the northeastern states to control the situation.

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