Shafaqna India: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that migrants who arrived in the state after 2015 will be deported under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) regulations. He clarified that only individuals who arrived in India before 2015 are eligible to apply for citizenship under the CAA, and failure to do so will result in legal action.
Sarma stated, “Only two people have applied so far. Anybody (according to CAA) who has come to India before 2015, they have the first right to apply for citizenship. If they don’t apply, we will lodge a case for them.”
He emphasized that this is a statutory instruction and confirmed, “We will deport those who have come after 2015.”
Earlier in March, Sarma had expressed doubts about the significance of the CAA due to the low number of applications received in the state. Out of five applications, only two were from individuals who arrived before 2015.
The Chief Minister’s comments are in line with the central government’s notification of rules under the CAA, which aims to provide citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
Assam’s Home and Political Department has instructed that cases of undocumented non-Muslim migrants who entered Assam after December 31, 2014, should be forwarded directly to the Foreigners Tribunal for necessary action, regardless of their religion.
A letter from the department stated, “In view of the above provision of law, the border police may not forward cases of persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, and Christian communities who entered India prior to December 31, 2014, directly to the Foreigners Tribunals… A separate register may be maintained for this category of persons.”
The letter also noted that this differential treatment will not apply to persons who entered Assam from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan after December 31, 2014, irrespective of their religion. Such cases should be immediately forwarded to the jurisdictional Foreigners Tribunal for further action.
