CAA will hit demography, economy & resources of NE states: CPI-M

Agartala, May 23: The Communist Part of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Wednesday claimed that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) would not only affect the demography of the northeastern region but also the economy, culture, employment, society, land and other resources. Tripura CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said that the Central government earlier said that the CAA would not be executed in the tribal autonomous district council (ADC) areas, but such declaration has no significance.

When the CAA is implemented in a state, its negative effect is bound to create problems in demography, economy, culture, employment, society, land and all other resources both in ADC areas and non ADC areas, said Chaudhury, also the opposition leader of Tripura. He said that the CPI-M, since the beginning, has been opposing the CAA and once again urged the Central government to not bring in the new law in the northeastern region.

There are ten ADCs in the four northeastern states, with Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya having three each and Tripura has one such tribal autonomous body. Chaudhury, also a former minister and CPI-M central committee member, said that after remaining quiet for several years, the Central government hurriedly framed the rules in March to obtain the electoral mileage in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The anti CAA protests had first started in Assam, parts of West Bengal and other northeastern states in 2019 and continued till 2020 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. At least five persons were killed in the protests against the CAA in Assam and one in Tripura.

On March 11, the Centre notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, thus paving the way for enforcing the CAA, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.