Broken promises – Anti-CAA protests in Guwahati

Of hopes and promises

December 12, 2019. It was decided by organizations and artists protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 that they shall all gather at the Latasil Ground to put up a demonstration against the government. But the demonstrations and protest rallies of the days prior had heated the system. Police and administration, following the government’s orders, were not allowing anyone to get out. That, however, did not discourage the protesting mass. Markets and businesses were voluntarily closed and the highway was blocked in places by big logs and rocks. Tyres were burnt in the middle of the road. The government had pre-emptively called for the Central Home Ministry’s intervention. The Ministry of Defence also got involved; about 20 companies of soldiers were transported from their posting in Kashmir to Assam along with Rapid Action Force and regular troops of the CRPF. By evening, the situation worsened and two young people were killed by the bullets of security forces.

The people of Assam have historically been against the influx of people from East Bengal into the Brahmaputra valley. After the partition, a massive wave of immigration was seen during and after the Liberation war of Bangladesh. The rising number of people of Bangladeshi origin and their propagation within the state started raising concerns among the indigenous people of Assam. In 1979, when the death of Mangaldoi MP Hiralal Patowary warranted bye-elections, it came to notice that the number of Bangladeshi people was unusually high. That was followed by a six-year-long agitation and elaborate rounds of talks with the Indira Gandhi led government. Subsequently, at the expense of 855 lives¹, the Assam Accord was signed between the All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) and the Government of India (GoI) in presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Although that brought an end to the agitation with some leaders from the AASU forming a political party (Asom Gana Parishad) to win elections, the root problem however remained to be solved. It is noteworthy that the state Congress party at that time vehemently opposed the signing of the Accord and some nationalist political forces like the RSS, partially supported the movement as they wanted the Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh, even if they entered India illegally, to be considered as refugees while weeding out the Muslim infiltrators².

Fast forward to 2009, a Guwahati based social activist Abhijeet Sarma filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court (SC) with a prayer to the Apex court to intervene for weeding out ‘about 41 lakh foreigners’ before the 2011 assembly elections². However, it was on April 2, 2013, that the then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir named Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton Fali Nariman as the two members of the Division Bench to deal with the case². Petitions were filed to consider 1951 as the cut-off year opposing 1971 as mentioned in the Assam Accord. Thus, the six-year-long process of updating the National Register Citizens (NRC) started. The Final NRC was published on August 31, 2019³, leaving out 19.06 lakh people⁴((Desk, I. T. W. (2019, August 31). Assam final NRC list released: 19,06,657 people excluded, 3.11 crore make it to citizenship list. India Today. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31)). However, it was claimed that the process left out hundreds and thousands of indigenous Muslim families as well as Bengali people of Indian origin. According to AASU President Dipanka Kumar Nath, as per his statement to the Sentinel, “Initially, the NRC update exercise was very smooth under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India. However, due to lapses on the part of the government, the final NRC is littered with errors. The final NRC has not included the names of many indigenous people.”⁵ Due to similar erroneous processes, a significant number of illegal immigrants were also included in the NRC. According to Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma, then finance minister (and others), many foreigners were included in the NRC due to manipulation of legacy data whereas many were left out as the authorities refused to accept refugee certificates ((Desk, I. T. W. (2019a, August 31). Assam BJP minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cries foul over final NRC list, demands reverification. India Today. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-bjp-himanta-biswa-sarma-cries-foul-demands-reverification-1593829-2019-08-31)).

By the year 2016, the people of Assam were tired of misgovernance by the Tarun Gogoi led Congress government. People longed for Pariborton (change). They longed for a hero to save them and take Assam on the right path of progress and prosperity. The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded Sarbananda Sonowal as their CM candidate. Sarbananda Sonowal was a former AASU president and the person responsible for the repeal of the controversial IM(DT) Act. ‘Xokolure Ananda, Sarbananda’ (Everyone’s Happiness, Sarbananda) had become a catchphrase for the elections. Every Assamese revered him as a Jatir Nayak (National Hero) who would save Assam. Mr Sarbananda Sonowal had promised to protect Jati, Maati and Bheti (Community, Land and Foundation) of Assam and the Assamese people. He took it as his mission was to unite every hill and plain, the Barak and the Brahmaputra to work for progress and prosperity. But things were not as easy and simple as they looked. A grim reality was awaiting the people of Assam to be unveiled in the coming years.

Of fire and ashes

The Narendra Modi government proposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (CAB) in the Lok Sabha in July 2016 to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955⁶. If passed in the Parliament this Act would make illegal migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian religious communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh eligible for Indian citizenship; they will not be detained or deported. However, this proposition simply aggravated the insecurities related to the immigrant problem in the minds of the Assamese people. Assam was on the edge again. As stated earlier, the people of Assam were always against the illegal migration of Bangladeshi people regardless of their religion. The ethnic identity of Assamese people always preceded the religious identity. Resultantly, people resorted to protest.

Traditionally the people belonging to the Bengali Hindu community of the state were Congress vote banks. But when the process of NRC started, a general paranoia seeped into their minds that they shall be left out of the NRC and might even be detained or deported – which partially became true when the final NRC came out in 2019. Many Bengali families or some members of many families were left out of the NRC rendering them illegal migrants living in Assam. Nevertheless, the proposition of the CAB shifted the loyalty of the Bengali Hindu community of the state towards BJP⁷, who even after winning the 2016 assembly elections were trying to consolidate power in the entire North-eastern region. Towards the end of 2018, it was declared that if the Narendra Modi led BJP government succeeds to form a government for the second term, they shall pass the CAB with utmost priority. The insecurity of the people of Assam became a reality and their trust in the Sonowal government was set on fire.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 led by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal visited Assam from 7th to 10th May 2018 to hold meetings with different organisations as the Bill was already receiving stout opposition from the state. On May 7th the members of the committee held meetings in Guwahati and on May 8th they visited Silchar. On May 9th they held another meeting in Guwahati and on 10th they went to Shillong to hold a similar meeting following which they left for Delhi. Meanwhile, Asom Gana Parishad who was a partner in the BJP led coalition had already stated that there will be no compromise on the issue of Hindu Bangladeshis and the party will continue to oppose the CAB⁸. The Government of Assam wanted the JPC to defer the submission of its report until the state published the final NRC. It was already speculated that as the NRC was not modelled to filter immigrants on religious grounds, a major chunk of Hindu Bangladeshi people would be left out as they fled Bangladesh due to fear of religious persecution post-1971. The visit of the JPC and its hearing, however, created a rift between the two valleys (Barak and Brahmaputra) of the state. The majority of the population of the Barak valley were Bengali speaking people who were in favour of the Bill but people in the Brahmaputra valley, regardless of their religion, vehemently opposed the Bill. The then CM Sarbanada Sonowal released a statement after the JPC left, assuring the people of Assam that the government will not take any decision that is against the interests of the people of Assam. “People should not get agitated as the JPC process for taking their opinion is on. We will not take any decision that goes against the people of Assam,” Sonowal told media persons in Guwahati⁹. The rift of the two valleys became more and more prominent and petrifying over time. In the Barak valley, a majority of the 315 opinions submitted to the JPC were in favour of the Bill, people formed human chains and displayed placards in favour of the Bill. In the Brahmaputra valley, contrastingly, protests were staged in front of the venue where the JPC was holding their hearings. Student organisations like AASU, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chattra Parishad (AJYCP), the ruling alliance partner AGP and the pro-talk faction of ULFA organised mass agitational programmes against the Bill⁹. The fire had come out to the streets and it was only a matter of time before it started burning lives.

The first students’ organisation of Assam the Asom Chattra Sanmilan (Assam Students’ Conference) came into existence in the year 1916¹⁰ at the Latasil ground in Guwahati. The founder president of the organisation was Roxoraaj Lakshminath Bezbarua. The organisation actively defended the Assamese language and worked to establish Assamese as the official language of the state opposing the British who wanted Bengali instead. 102 years later the same venue bore witness to another mass agitation by the members of its child organisation AASU and the locals of the city. On January 23, 2019, AASU and 30 other organisations clenched and raised fists as a sign of protest against the CAB. ‘CAB aami namanu’, ‘CAB amak nalage’ (We shall not follow CAB, We do not want CAB) slogans thundered in the middle of the city. It was the Bajra Ninad (thunder) of the people¹¹. The playground saw a congregation of leaders from different organisations like the Khasi Students Union (KSU), North East Students Organization (NESO), people from the student fraternity, lawyers, intellectuals, writers, singers, artists, journalists, etc. According to AASU Chief adviser Dr Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, the congregation representing the segmented yet united as one Assamese community had two demands – ‘Cancellation of the CAB which threatened to spell disaster in Assam’ and ‘the indigenous people should have a decisive role in the state’. This day marked the beginning of, what was speculated by the people, an Assam Agitation level movement against the Bill that could reiterate the illegal Bangladeshi problem in Assam, with, once again, AASU at the helm of affairs.

What followed were days of uncertainty and conflict. Common people were still confused but hopeful. The promise Mr Narendra Modi had made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the Serampore (WB) rally on April 28, 2014, that after May 16, 2014, he would send the Bangladeshis ‘beyond the border with bag and baggage,’ was still fresh in peoples’ minds¹²¹³. But when the Bill was finally (re)introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 09, 2019, the turmoil began. A spontaneous uprising among various sections, mostly students started taking shape, all over Assam. On December 10, North East Students’ Organisation called for a shutdown and people responded with full support. Guwahati came to a halt. The Centre airlifted 5000 paramilitary personnel. RAF and CRPF personnel could be seen in nooks and corners of the city. Despite resistance from the authorities, when the Bill was finally passed, on December 10, people poured into the streets the following day. Led by the students of different colleges and universities of the city, government officials, teaching staff, everyone joined the protest rallies. The Guwahati-Shillong Road (GS Road, now called Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev Path) was filled by young people of the city. It was not a protest rally called by any organisation – it was a demonstration of pure rage and disappointment of the people. The agenda was simple. ‘People and the culture of Assam cannot take the burden of foreigners anymore, regardless of their religious backgrounds.’

As the crowd reached near the Assam Secretariat, they were met with a riot formation of the Assam Police. Lathis were charged and water cannons fired which failed to deter the protesters. Eventually, the protests took a turn that was uncalled for. Some of the peaceful protesters resorted to violence. Vehicles and public structures were vandalised and set on fire. That provoked the law enforcers even more. People were battered left right and centre. Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired. Although momentarily that dispersed the people, it did not stop them from protesting nor did it scare them off. But the government took a never-seen-before measure. The internet was shut off for 24 hours at 1900 hrs on December 11 stating that it was spreading rumours. The following day on December 12, the artists and journalists took the lead of the protest activities. Although the internet was shut, the news reached that all shall gather at the historic Latasil ground and through songs and speeches send the message to the lawmakers that under no circumstances would the people of Assam accept the CAB (it was yet to be signed by the President). People followed yet again and started flocking towards Latasil ground. But police and paramilitary blockades were ramped up. Five companies of the Army were also deployed and they were flag marching. Some people resorted to burning tyres and tree trunks in the middle of the highway to disrupt Army truck movements. For an onlooker, the sight of the Army personnel, at the ready, pointing guns outwards, was nerve-racking.

Students of Gauhati University decided to walk towards the Latasil ground to join the protesters. But they were held back by the state police at Jalukbari. Five to six Army trucks were at standby just about a hundred metres away. After much negotiation the police let the students walk but in small groups. As half of the students reached the Adabari area, they were stopped again. Negotiations began. Students started shouting slogans while the Army trucks that drove past held positions just about twenty metres ahead. The situation got heated up as all guns were pointed towards the protesting group. The negotiations of the students failed and they were sent back to hostels.

The protests at Latasil ground continued. Singers like Zubeen Garg, Manas Robin, actors and actresses like Barasha Rani Bishaya, Ravi Sharma* and Jatin Bora*¹⁴, journalists like Nitumani Saikia and Ajit Bhuyan, AASU Chief Adviser Dr Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and other prominent people of the city delivered fiery speeches. They demanded the government provision of instruments to protect the cultural identity of the Assamese people and to make sure that Assam receives a constitutional safeguard against any cultural threat. The field was full of people even after law enforcement agencies tried their best to stop them.

That evening police tightened vigilance activities and started patrolling Guwahati neighbourhoods along with the army flag march. Dipanjal Das, a young person was among the protesters of the Lachit Nagar area that evening when a bullet hit his abdomen. He fell to the ground and died soon after. Later he was named the first martyr of the Anti-CAA movement. Sam Stafford, was a 17-year-old boy walking home at Hatigaon, after attending the rally at Latasil ground. A bullet hit his face point-blank and he too died on the spot. The Citizenship Amendment Bill was assented by the President that night and it became the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. Promises were broken, people were betrayed, five lives were lost and hundreds were injured. Time may have doused the fire that rose but the ashes remain.

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Quest to find relevance after 35 years – Assam Movement, an observation

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