GUWAHATI: In the backdrop of strident opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 in Brahmaputra Valley, activists in Barak Valley mentioned an impression is being created that Assam might be flooded with "Hindu Bengalis from Bangladesh" if the invoice is handed. They mentioned this perception is unsuitable as a result of a diversity of ethnic teams with unique cultural identities instead of Hindu Bengalis nonetheless live in Bangladesh.
Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, those ethnic teams have migrated to northeast states in different levels of time. The migration has slowed down from 1971 with the advent of Bangladesh, but some experts mentioned it cannot be mentioned with certainty that migration of smaller ethnic teams from Bangladesh to India has utterly stopped.
"We are saddened by the fact that a discourse is being built around the bill that Bangladeshi Hindus or Hindu Bengalis from Bangladesh will swamp our state once the bill is made into a legislation," mentioned Sadhan Purkayastha, secretary general of Citizens' Rights Preservation Committee Assam.
"Bangladesh is also home to a sizeable population of Chakmas, Kochs, Garos, Khasis, Hajongs, Meiteis, Bishnupriyas among other communities. Members of these communities, practising different religions, also reside in northeast. These communities are not outside the purview of the bill. Then why is the discourse on one particular community," Purkayastha mentioned.
Former vice-chancellor of Assam University in Silchar, Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, mentioned it is inaccurate to counter the invoice at the basis of possibility of influx from one specific community or specific spiritual group. "We all know different communities migrated to northeast in different phases of history. It is only a matter of which historical date we take to claim someone as son of the soil. Civilization is a history of diaspora. Let's not make a division for the sake of opposing the bill. Our struggle is between haves and have-nots not between communities," Bhattacharjee mentioned.
According to Joshua Project, a USA-based group that maintains international ethnological data to strengthen Christian missions, an approximate 128,000 Garos, of whom 51.38% practise Christianity, live in northern spaces of Dhaka, Sylhet, Tangail, Mymensingh and Gajipur districts of Bangladesh. It mentioned around 118,000 Kochs, 18,000 Hajongs, 12,000 Bishnupriyas and 20,000 Meiteis practicing Hinduism additionally are living in different portions of Bangladesh. The group additionally estimated 438,000 Chakmas with 84.82% fans of Buddhism and 639,000 Santhals with 54.37% fans of Hinduism additionally live in Bangladesh. A small population of Rabhas additionally live in different wallet of Bangladesh.
Statistics say in 1961 there were about 80,000 Khasis in East Pakistan and since the advent of Bangladesh, the population has come down to approximately 20,000, most of whom are concentrated in northern spaces of Sylhet, which in Khasi language is also referred to as Synteng.
The invoice seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, through proposing to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 so that the spiritual minorities from those nations are eligible for citizenship through "naturalization" in seven years as a substitute of the existing 12 years. Critics of the invoice mentioned it is against the secular basis of the Constitution and a contravention of Article 14 which guarantees right to equality.
Scion of Koch royal circle of relatives of Darrang, Pranab Narayan Dev, who's against the invoice, mentioned many Kochs have settled in Assam from Bangladesh until 1971. "I have my relatives in Rangpur of Bangladesh. I am against the bill, but I don't think the Kochs of Bangladesh will come in large numbers even if the bill is passed," Dev mentioned.
Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, those ethnic teams have migrated to northeast states in different levels of time. The migration has slowed down from 1971 with the advent of Bangladesh, but some experts mentioned it cannot be mentioned with certainty that migration of smaller ethnic teams from Bangladesh to India has utterly stopped.
"We are saddened by the fact that a discourse is being built around the bill that Bangladeshi Hindus or Hindu Bengalis from Bangladesh will swamp our state once the bill is made into a legislation," mentioned Sadhan Purkayastha, secretary general of Citizens' Rights Preservation Committee Assam.
"Bangladesh is also home to a sizeable population of Chakmas, Kochs, Garos, Khasis, Hajongs, Meiteis, Bishnupriyas among other communities. Members of these communities, practising different religions, also reside in northeast. These communities are not outside the purview of the bill. Then why is the discourse on one particular community," Purkayastha mentioned.
Former vice-chancellor of Assam University in Silchar, Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, mentioned it is inaccurate to counter the invoice at the basis of possibility of influx from one specific community or specific spiritual group. "We all know different communities migrated to northeast in different phases of history. It is only a matter of which historical date we take to claim someone as son of the soil. Civilization is a history of diaspora. Let's not make a division for the sake of opposing the bill. Our struggle is between haves and have-nots not between communities," Bhattacharjee mentioned.
According to Joshua Project, a USA-based group that maintains international ethnological data to strengthen Christian missions, an approximate 128,000 Garos, of whom 51.38% practise Christianity, live in northern spaces of Dhaka, Sylhet, Tangail, Mymensingh and Gajipur districts of Bangladesh. It mentioned around 118,000 Kochs, 18,000 Hajongs, 12,000 Bishnupriyas and 20,000 Meiteis practicing Hinduism additionally are living in different portions of Bangladesh. The group additionally estimated 438,000 Chakmas with 84.82% fans of Buddhism and 639,000 Santhals with 54.37% fans of Hinduism additionally live in Bangladesh. A small population of Rabhas additionally live in different wallet of Bangladesh.
Statistics say in 1961 there were about 80,000 Khasis in East Pakistan and since the advent of Bangladesh, the population has come down to approximately 20,000, most of whom are concentrated in northern spaces of Sylhet, which in Khasi language is also referred to as Synteng.
The invoice seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, through proposing to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 so that the spiritual minorities from those nations are eligible for citizenship through "naturalization" in seven years as a substitute of the existing 12 years. Critics of the invoice mentioned it is against the secular basis of the Constitution and a contravention of Article 14 which guarantees right to equality.
Scion of Koch royal circle of relatives of Darrang, Pranab Narayan Dev, who's against the invoice, mentioned many Kochs have settled in Assam from Bangladesh until 1971. "I have my relatives in Rangpur of Bangladesh. I am against the bill, but I don't think the Kochs of Bangladesh will come in large numbers even if the bill is passed," Dev mentioned.
Wrong perception that citizenship bill will flood Assam with Hindus: Experts
![Wrong perception that citizenship bill will flood Assam with Hindus: Experts]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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May 28, 2018
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