Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that theCitizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is to address some of the unresolved issuesof the Assam Accord and not to dilute its spirit. He said this while addressingthe special session of the Assam Legislative Assembly held on Monday to discussthe ongoing situation over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and other issues.
Addressing the Assembly, he said that the recent citizenship actwas effected to address some of the unresolved issues of the Assam Accord likeit was done in 1983, 1997 and in 2003 and not to dilute the spirit of theAccord.
Sarma, while quoting the Assam Accord said, "According to theAccord, the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal foreigners inAssam is 1967 and not 1971. The Accord was only a four-page document. There werenot many issues written in the Accord but the issues were evolved gradually."
He further added that the cut-off date of 1971 was just aprovision for those who came after 1967 and declare that before the foreignofficer that they were from Bangladesh.
Sarma said that it is in this regard that the Accord added aprovision that their cases would be considered till 1971 with a condition thattheir names would be kept out of the electoral roll for 10 years after whichthey will be restored adding that it was a violation of the Accord.
The minister also appealed to the legislators to help the government by dispelling the fear of the people's minds.
He said, "I am quite surethat we won't have to wait long. The rules are being framed for CAA 2019 andonce the rules are framed, we can adopt a resolution in the Assembly to makethe Act more stringent" adding that through the resolution it can be ensuredthat the beneficiaries produce a document that they came to India beforeDecember 2014, he said.
"We can also make a resolution that the date of December 2014 can never be extended further," he added.
The minister further reiteratedthat the CAA would not allow more than a mere 5 lakh people to apply forcitizenship and added that he is ready to quit politics if it is more than 5lakh people, who are benefitted out of CAA 2019.
