AASU to protest dropping of foreigners tribunal cases against non-Muslims, demands CAA repeal in Assam

Guwahati: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Thursday announced protests against the Assam government’s directive to drop foreigners tribunal cases against non-Muslims who entered the state before 2015. The influential Assamese nationalist group also reiterated its demand for the complete withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) from Assam.

The move comes after a government order asked district authorities and tribunal members to withdraw cases against persons from six religious communities, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis, who entered the state on or before December 31, 2014. The directive, first reported by Scroll, was issued following a July 17 meeting of the state’s home and political department convened on the instructions of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

In a statement, AASU strongly opposed the order, describing it as protection for “illegal Hindu Bangladeshis” and demanded its immediate cancellation. “This directive that seeks to protect Bangladeshis must be repealed,” it said, adding that copies of the order would be publicly burnt across all district headquarters on Friday.

Calling for a lasting solution to the issue of undocumented migrants based on the Assam Accord, AASU stated, “it is necessary to expel all illegal Bangladeshis, Hindu and Muslim, who came after 1971 on the basis of the Assam Accord.”

The students’ union said the Centre’s decision to implement the CAA selectively in the Northeast was unjust. “CAA does not apply in 98% of Meghalaya, 70% of Tripura, and several districts of Assam, including BTR and hill districts. Yet, it is enforced in 27 out of 35 districts in Assam. Our state is the worst affected,” it said, calling the law “anti-indigenous” and “harmful” to Assam’s future.

The CAA, passed in December 2019 and notified in March 2024, provides a path to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan who entered India before 2015. Critics argue the law violates the 1985 Assam Accord, which mandates the detection and deportation of anyone who entered the state illegally after March 24, 1971, regardless of religion.

The foreigners tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies in Assam, rely heavily on documentary evidence to determine a person’s citizenship status. They have drawn criticism for inconsistencies and errors in judgments, often based on minor discrepancies. So far, over 1.6 lakh people have been declared foreigners, of whom more than 69,500 are Hindus.

AASU said the Centre was unfairly imposing the CAA on Assam and demanded that the state be completely excluded from the Act’s purview.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress also voiced strong opposition to the move. In a letter to various civil society groups, Saikia said the CAA undermines the Assam Accord and warned that about five lakh undocumented foreigners in Assam could now be granted citizenship, including 70,000 people already declared foreigners by the tribunals.

“This decision of the government will not only violate the Assam Accord but also have a negative impact on the economic situation and limited natural resources of our state,” Saikia said, adding that the state government had not denied the reports of its directive.

The 2019 publication of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) had excluded over 19 lakh people. According to CM Sarma, this includes five lakh Bengali Hindus, two lakh Assamese Hindu groups, 1.5 lakh Gorkhas, and seven lakh Muslims. The BJP has maintained that excluded Hindus could regain citizenship under the CAA, leading to concerns that Muslims alone would bear the brunt of the NRC process.

The CAA had sparked widespread protests in Assam and across the country between 2019 and 2020. However, it received support from sections of Assam’s Bengali Hindu population.