NEW DELHI, May 9 - The Prabrajan Virodhi Mancha (PVM) on Wednesday claimed that at least three independent studies based on 2001 and 2011 censuses have stated that the majority indigenous communities in Assam will become a minority between 2040 and 2051 due to the presence of a large number of illegal Bangladeshis in the State.
In a statement, PVM convenor Upamanyu Hazarika said the overwhelming response and opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has united the people of Assam. However, the huge public sentiment and effort generated have to be directed not only at opposing the Hindu migrants who are yet to come but also against the illegal Bangladeshis who are already in Assam and will turn the indigenous people into a minority.
These illegal Bangladeshis are responsible for most crimes particularly against women, for driving away indigenous people from their homelands in middle and lower Assam and many other types of crimes.
�Our aim should be to ensure that indigenous people do not become a minority, and for which only the NRC updation will not be sufficient. Without reservation of land, in government employment, seats in higher educational institutions for the local people, indigenous people cannot be saved from becoming a minority,� he added.
The effect of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will be uniform all over the country but there is barely any protest in the neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, as all resources, land, government jobs, trade licence are reserved for the local indigenous people in these States, said Hazarika who also heads the Supreme Court appointed expert panel to study the India-Bangladesh border.
