Assam Assembly elections 2026: CAA norms a cause for worry for Hindu Bengalis in Assam

Cachar (Assam): The 'Certificate of Naturalisation' Depali Das received from the Assam government on March 6 this year not only ended her struggle to shed the tag of being an "infiltrator" from Bangladesh but also restored her political rights and privileges as an Indian citizen. But the 60-year-old woman belonging to Hindu Bengali community, looked tense and restless at her residence at Lalchora, a settlement inside Khulichera forest village in South Assam's Cachar district sharing boundary with Mizoram's Kolasib district.

"I am not at all relieved. Look at his condition," Das told DH, pointing to her husband, Abhimanyu Das, who, she said lost his mental balance during the two-years she was lodged in a foreigner detention camp between 2019 and 2021. Depali, who ran a tea and snacks stall at Dholai town nearby, was called to a police station and was subsequently lodged in the detention camp inside Silchar jail.

"I can't sleep as he moves out of home at night. I am also worried about the debts we got into during the legal battle. My children are very worried too," she said.

She was alleged to be from Bangladesh's Sylhat district with which Cachar also shares a border. However, her family said the foreigner notice did not match with her name. She was, however, released on bail in 2021 as per an order of the Supreme Court.

With no respite coming, the family in 2024-end filed an application for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was passed by Narendra Modi government in December 2019 to offer citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who had to flee due to "religious persecution".

The certificate, however, has not ended the worry of Dipali's son and five daughters. "Please don't disclose our names," one of her children requested. They fear that reports that their mother got citizenship under the CAA could stigmatise them as Bangladeshis in the rest of Assam, particularly in the Brahmaputra Valley, where there is a strong anti-CAA sentiment. 

Assam had witnessed a strong anti-CAA agitation and five persons died in firing by security forces during the agitation that turned violent in Guwahati. Assamese and other indigenous communities fear that citizenship to the post-1971 migrants would reduce them into minority, threatening their identity. There is, however, a strong demand for implementation of the CAA, particularly from the Hindu Bengalis, a vote bank of the BJP. Some in the Das family also joined the BJP. 

Barak Valley, comprising Cachar, Shri Bhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Hailakandi is Bengali-dominant. Nearly 10 lakh Hindus were left out of the NRC (1971 cut-off) but Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma last year said most Hindu Bengalis are unwilling to apply for citizenship under the CAA. They, according to Sarma, claim that they are pre-1971 residents.

The CAA became an issue before the 2021 Assembly elections, but the BJP's victory led the saffron party to go ahead with implementing the Act. However, there is not much talk about the CAA in the run-up to the Assembly elections on April 9. 

Since the CAA rules were notified in 2024, at least six Hindu Bengalis have got citizenship so far. But the BJP-led government did not disclose their identities fearing trouble in the Brahmaputra Valley and rest of Assam. 

Dharmananda Deb, a lawyer in Silchar, who provided free legal aid to Depali, told DH that the applicants seeking citizenship under the CAA are also faced with the problem in submitting documents to prove that they were Bangladeshi citizens.

"How can we expect someone who fled due to persecution to provide such documents? People had fled for lives without any belongings," he said. "Bengalis are tagged as Bangladeshis just because of the language. If the government really wants to solve the citizenship crisis of the Hindu Bengalis, all these conditions must be done away with," said Sanjib Deb Laskar, president of Barak Valley Banga Sahitya Sanskriti Sammelan, a literary body in Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar.

Many here said Hindus in Barak Valley were of three categories: many were original citizens, some are Partition victims, and some are post-1971 migrants.