BJP’s Assam poll manifesto promises deportations, evictions, UCC

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday promised to use a 1950 law more stringently to expel Bangladeshi Miyas, a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims, and rid the state of them, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a 31-point manifesto for the April 9 assembly polls. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was among those present at the manifesto launch. (X)The government has used the Immigrants (Expulsion From Assam) Act, 1950, to bypass foreign tribunals and “push back” those deemed as “foreigners” to Bangladesh since last year. Sarma highlighted the promises in the manifesto, calling the stringent implementation of the 1950 law, which empowers district authorities to remove undocumented foreigners within 24 hours of their detection, the BJP’s foremost task if it is voted back to power. “We promise to evict them [Miyas] from every inch of encroached government land in Assam,” he said. Sarma has sharpened his rhetoric against Miyas in the run-up to the polls in Assam, where the perceived threat to the indigenous language, culture, and land from outsiders has resulted in agitations that claimed hundreds of lives. Ethnic and linguistic tensions in Assam date back to the 19th century, when the British declared Bengali the official language in 1836. The protests against the move forced its withdrawal in 1873. The 1947 partition and the linguistic reorganisation of states in the 1970s sparked fresh protests against the “outsiders.” In the 1980s, the six-year agitation against “infiltrators” from Bangladesh ended with the 1985 Assam Accord, which finalised March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for citizenship. Bengali-speaking Hindus who moved to Assam from Bangladesh before December 31, 2014, can become Indian citizens under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Sarma promised a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), but added that areas under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for autonomy and self-governance of scheduled tribes, will be left out of its ambit. In February 2024, the BJP-ruled state of Uttarakhand became the first state to pass a UCC law in the country. Gujarat followed suit this month. A pan-India UCC is the BJP’s third major ideological promise. The construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status under the Constitution’s Article 370, the other two major ideological goals, have been achieved since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014. The UCC, a contentious and polarising issue, refers to a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all citizens. Constitution’s Article 44, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates UCC. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence. Sarma promised a stringent legislation against “love jihad” and “land jihad”, and to break the backbone of Bangladeshi “Miyas” in Assam. “Love jihad” is a term right-wing groups use to describe an alleged Muslim conspiracy to woo Hindu women, although courts and the Union government do not officially recognise it. “Land jihad” is also a similar supposed conspiracy to encroach on land. Sarma promised to spend ₹5 lakh crore to boost roads, railways, airports, and waterways in Assam. “We will take steps to make Assam flood-free and will spend ₹18,000 crore for that in the first two years of coming to power. I promise to provide 200,000 jobs in the next five years and create an additional 1 million jobs as part of different schemes to encourage entrepreneurs, startups, and rapid industrialisation,” he said He said the state government will provide mustard oil, sugar, and pulses at subsidised rates and give them free to extremely poor families. “We promise to set up a university, a medical college, and an engineering college in all districts. We will also make education free from KG to PG [kindergarten to post-graduate],” Sarma said. Sarma promised ₹25,000 one-time assistance to four million women to help them set up ventures and become lakhpatis (at least ₹1 lakh in wealth). “We do not want to be a dependent state and want to transform Assam into one of the brightest in India. We want to contribute towards the goal of turning India into a developed nation by 2027,” said Sarma. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was present at the manifesto launch, said Assam is one of India’s fastest-growing economies. “I see a state that has transformed so much in 10 years under BJP rule, which Congress could not achieve despite being in power for six decades.” She referred to the semiconductor plant in Jagiroad and said it has created around 27,000 jobs. “Assamese who were working outside the state and abroad are choosing to come back.” Sitharaman said around four million families were being given ₹1,250 monthly under direct benefit transfer schemes such as Orunodoi. Utpal is a Senior Assistant Editor based in Guwahati. He covers seven states of North-East India and heads the editorial team for the region. He was previously based in Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi with Hindustan Times.Read More