The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has raised concerns that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will adversely affect the demography, economy, culture, employment, society, land, and resources of the northeastern region.
Tripura CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury highlighted the potential negative repercussions of the CAA, asserting that the Central government’s assurances about not implementing the CAA in tribal autonomous district council (ADC) areas hold no real significance.
“When the CAA is implemented in a state, its negative effects will inevitably create problems in demography, economy, culture, employment, society, land, and all other resources, both in ADC and non-ADC areas,” stated Chaudhury, who is also the opposition leader in Tripura.
Chaudhury reiterated the CPI-M’s long-standing opposition to the CAA and once again urged the Central government to refrain from implementing the law in the northeastern region. He argued that the hurried framing of rules in March was a political maneuver aimed at gaining electoral advantage during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The northeastern states feature ten ADCs: Assam, Mizoram, and Meghalaya each have three, while Tripura has one. Chaudhury, a former minister and member of the CPI-M central committee, accused the Central government of hastily framing the rules in March to gain electoral advantage in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections after years of inaction.
The anti-CAA protests, which began in Assam, parts of West Bengal, and other northeastern states in 2019, continued into 2020 before being interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. These protests resulted in the deaths of at least five individuals in Assam and one in Tripura.
On March 11, the Centre notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, paving the way for the CAA’s enforcement. The act aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who arrived in India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.
