After remaining in hibernation for a few months, Citizenship Amendment Bill is once again part of the lead news, courtesy Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s strong hint on Monday at the North East Democratic Alliance Convention that it’s going to be reintroduced. Although there had been conscious efforts by the Home Minister to dispel fears regarding the possible after-effects that CAB will presumably entail in Northeast, a strong dismissive mood against it is already in the making. Assam has been first to react, with protests flowing in from various quarters on Tuesday, the very next day of Shah’s announcement. It goes without saying that a hornet’s nest has been stirred once more that is going to exert waves in the Northeast, undoubtedly in a more enduring way than the rest of the country.
It must be fresh in everyone’s memory how the entire Northeast was engulfed in protests after CAB’s passage in LS in early January this year. The reasons behind this staggering scale of protests that had been witnessed almost all over the region are actually contained in the bill itself. CAB, if ultimately becomes a law will pave way for minorities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have entered into India on or before the 31st December 2014, supposedly because of religious persecution in their respective home countries, for acquiring Indian citizenship. It is strikingly noticeable that CAB has caused very strong reactions in this part of the country which is in sharp contrast to the placid scenario in the rest where it is more of a secondary issue of deliberation and the reasons for it are clear as daylight. There is widespread anxiety that it might well lead to a demographic imbalance as a first outcome, gradually followed by economic and cultural cornering of the indigenous people of this vast region. And according to various observers, this concern, even if debatable, can never be discounted as grossly outlandish since there are conspicuous examples of such ‘deep changes’ in various pockets of this region itself due to influx across borders. Amidst fears that had been reiterated once more in categorical terms on NEDA platform, Home Minister has stated that ‘protective shields’ which Northeast enjoys via provisions of Article 371 and Inner Line Permits will not be touched.
There will be nothing more satisfying if this promise is kept in ditto. What Northeast needs today is development above anything, of which it has been deprived for several decades without interruption. Wheels of progress that have just started moving can never accelerate under this ubiquitous sense of disquiet. 
And since it has been revisited, voice and sentiments of the Northeast people must be heard and honoured first, keeping aside all other agendas. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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