As Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, the petitioner challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of Citizenship Act 1955 in the Supreme Court of India, and many indigenous groups as well as individuals start discussing with legal experts with an aim to appeal again before a nine-judge Constitution Bench, a forum of nationalist citizens opines that it does not rule out the possibility of revision in the recent SC verdict. A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, Manoj Misra and JB Pardiwala uphold the validity of the said section and thus recognized the Assam Accord, signed in 1985 to culminate the historic Asom Andolan against the illegal migrants in the State of northeast India.
The Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA), while accepting the SC verdict pronounced with 4:1 majority, argues that a dissenting judgment (by Justice Pardiwala) may provide lawful space to go for a revision as majority of Asomiya (Assamese) people felt disheartened by the verdict, even if not the All Assam Students’ Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, Asom Gana Parishad, Asom Sahitya Sabha, etc.
The forum now appeals to the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to rethink over the stand in favour of illegal migrants (read millions of East Pakistani nationals, who entered Assam on or before 24 March 1971) for granting the citizenship of India and thus putting the Assamese community in an increasingly troubled ambience. With a simple logic of allotting a different cut off year (than the national one) to detect the illegal migrants in Assam, many anti-Bharat elements can now exploit the situation to regain their lost space in the disturbed region, apprehended the PPFA.
Admitting that the deportation of illegal migrants becomes too difficult now-a-days because of various international complications, the forum expressed its resentment that that must not be an official version The BJP-led central government in New Delhi should think of shifting those East Pakistanis turned Indians to other parts of the country after detection (as being pre-1971 settlers in Assam). The initiative, which may be tricky at first glance, should be adopted meticulously with support from all Assam-centric organisations to safeguard the future of Asomiya people in their own land, concluded the forum.
