Pol parties have no agenda for protection of indigenous communities in this LS election, says PVM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 1, 2024

The protection of indigenous identity, which has been a central theme for political parties in earlier elections, is absent from the agenda of political parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) said here on Monday.

Addressing a press conference here, PVM convenor and Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika said: “Today even though leaders of all political parties barring the AIUDF are of indigenous origin and indigenous are still in a majority, the competition is far the migrant vote. Unlike other northeastern states where communities and political leaders fiercely guard the indigenous identity, the moral degeneration amongst the political leadership in Assam has led to this dire situation, since the Assam movement all leaders have conveniently used the cause for political advancement, only to betray consistently.”

“This is because most of these leaders have used the foreigners issue/ indigenous identity, to make a living out of it,” Hazarika said.

Hazarika also said: “Today the BJP government in Assam has a majority of former Congress leaders, reputed not only for their corruption but also for their pro-Bangladeshi stance and when self-enrichment and advancement are the priority, then fundamental issues of indigenous survival cease to matter.”

Hazarika said the riveting challenge to Bangladeshis to pack their bags and be ready to leave Assam by then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, defined and shaped the political discourse for that and subsequent elections.

“The failure of NRC (National Register of Citizens), the promulgation of CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), in this election now sees a reverse trend with all parties competing for the migrant Muslim vote in Assam. If chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, soliciting the support of the migrant Muslim votes, advises them to ‘indigenise’ themselves by adopting local customs and habits,” Hazarika said.

Hazarika also said the other opposition parties remind the migrant Muslims about the abuses heaped on them by Sarma earlier and that their primary enemy is the BJP. On the other hand, by promulgating CAA, the Bangladeshi Hindu vote is being attracted to.
“Despite the public acknowledgement by the BJP that NRC has included a large number of foreigners, no steps have been taken for re-verification of NRC and exclude the estimated 60 lakhs who’ve been included,” he said.

“Re-verification of NRC is particularly important as the indigenous population in Assam is projected to be a minority by 2040. Even though large-scale anomalies and fraud were evident throughout the NRC process, however, the obsession with CAA, led to such fraud being overlooked and enabled the majority of the foreigners to find their way into the NRC,” he also said.

The PVM convenor further said even though the previous NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma filed a detailed report in the Supreme Court, demonstrating subversion of NRC with specific data, this has been ignored.

“On one hand Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal says that the CAA will not harm the indigenous, on the other Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says that around 5 lakh people will benefit under CAA. It is over 100 indigenous communities who co-exist in Assam and the Mising one the larger tribes, numbers around 5 lakhs, which means through CAA a population the size of the Mising tribe is being included in Assam,” he further said.

“The antidote to the large number of foreigners in Assam, which includes lacs legitimised as citizens until March 25, 1971, by the Assam Accord,, those by birth in Assam, those included in the NRC and now lastly through CAA are the protective safeguards recommended by the Committee under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord of February 2020, recommending reservation in land, employment, trade etc for those who are included in the 1951 NRC or their descendants,” he further said.

“I also made this recommendation as a Supreme Court Commissioner in 2015. But all political parties, including the ruling party which set up this Committee, have consigned this report to the dustbin,” Hazarika said.

The PVM convenor regretted that the chief minister advised the migrant Muslims on ways to become indigenous!