<p>Cachar (Assam): The 'Certificate of Naturalisation' that Depali Das received from the Assam government on March 6 not only ended her long struggle to shed the tag of being an "infiltrator" from Bangladesh but also restored her political rights and privileges as an Indian citizen. Yet the 60‑year‑old member of the Hindu Bengali community appeared tense at her home in Lalchora — a settlement inside Khulichera forest village in South Assam’s Cachar district, which shares its boundary with Mizoram’s Kolasib district.</p>.<p>Pointing to her husband, Abhimanyu Das, she said he lost his mental balance during the two years she was lodged in a foreigner detention camp between 2019 and 2021.</p>.Assam Assembly elections 2026: CAA norms a cause for worry for Hindu Bengalis in Assam.<p>Depali, who ran a tea and snacks stall in nearby Dholai town, was summoned to a police station and subsequently confined in the detention camp inside Silchar jail.</p>.<p>“I can’t sleep as he wanders out of the house at night. I am also worried about the debts we incurred during the legal battle,” she told DH. Authorities had alleged she was from Bangladesh’s Sylhet district, which borders Cachar.</p>.<p>She was released on bail in 2021 following a Supreme Court order. With no respite in sight, the family filed an application for citizenship at the end of 2024 under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by the Narendra Modi government in December 2019 to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled due to “religious persecution".</p>.<p>The certificate has not eased the worries of Dipali’s son and five daughters either. They fear that reports of their mother obtaining citizenship under the CAA could stigmatise them as Bangladeshis in the rest of Assam.</p>.<p>Assam had witnessed a strong anti-CAA agitation, during which five people were killed in police firing. Assamese and other indigenous communities fear that granting citizenship to post-1971 migrants would reduce them to a minority.</p>.<p>There is, however, strong demand for the implementation of the CAA, particularly from Hindu Bengalis, a key vote bank for the BJP. </p>.<p>Barak Valley — comprising Cachar, Shri Bhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Hailakandi — is predominantly Bengali. Nearly 10 lakh Hindus were excluded from the NRC (with its 1971 cut-off), but Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said last year that most Hindu Bengalis are unwilling to apply for citizenship under the CAA. According to him, they claim they are pre-1971 residents.</p>.<p>Dharmananda Deb, a lawyer who provided free legal aid to Depali, told DH that applicants seeking citizenship under the CAA face difficulties in submitting documents to prove they were Bangladeshi citizens. “How can we expect someone who fled persecution to provide such papers? People escaped with their lives, without any belongings,” he said.</p>.<p>“Bengalis are tagged as Bangladeshis just because of the language. If the government truly wants to resolve the citizenship crisis of Hindu Bengalis, all these conditions must be removed,” said Sanjib Deb Laskar, president of the Barak Valley Banga Sahitya Sanskriti Sammelan, a literary body based in Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar.</p>.<p><strong>Highlights: </strong></p><p>CAA passed in 2019 to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan CAA demand strong among Hindu Bengalis, BJP vote bank But most Hindu Bengalis claim pre‑1971 roots, avoid CAA CAA applicants struggle to prove Bangladeshi origin</p>
<p>Cachar (Assam): The 'Certificate of Naturalisation' that Depali Das received from the Assam government on March 6 not only ended her long struggle to shed the tag of being an "infiltrator" from Bangladesh but also restored her political rights and privileges as an Indian citizen. Yet the 60‑year‑old member of the Hindu Bengali community appeared tense at her home in Lalchora — a settlement inside Khulichera forest village in South Assam’s Cachar district, which shares its boundary with Mizoram’s Kolasib district.</p>.<p>Pointing to her husband, Abhimanyu Das, she said he lost his mental balance during the two years she was lodged in a foreigner detention camp between 2019 and 2021.</p>.Assam Assembly elections 2026: CAA norms a cause for worry for Hindu Bengalis in Assam.<p>Depali, who ran a tea and snacks stall in nearby Dholai town, was summoned to a police station and subsequently confined in the detention camp inside Silchar jail.</p>.<p>“I can’t sleep as he wanders out of the house at night. I am also worried about the debts we incurred during the legal battle,” she told DH. Authorities had alleged she was from Bangladesh’s Sylhet district, which borders Cachar.</p>.<p>She was released on bail in 2021 following a Supreme Court order. With no respite in sight, the family filed an application for citizenship at the end of 2024 under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by the Narendra Modi government in December 2019 to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled due to “religious persecution".</p>.<p>The certificate has not eased the worries of Dipali’s son and five daughters either. They fear that reports of their mother obtaining citizenship under the CAA could stigmatise them as Bangladeshis in the rest of Assam.</p>.<p>Assam had witnessed a strong anti-CAA agitation, during which five people were killed in police firing. Assamese and other indigenous communities fear that granting citizenship to post-1971 migrants would reduce them to a minority.</p>.<p>There is, however, strong demand for the implementation of the CAA, particularly from Hindu Bengalis, a key vote bank for the BJP. </p>.<p>Barak Valley — comprising Cachar, Shri Bhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Hailakandi — is predominantly Bengali. Nearly 10 lakh Hindus were excluded from the NRC (with its 1971 cut-off), but Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said last year that most Hindu Bengalis are unwilling to apply for citizenship under the CAA. According to him, they claim they are pre-1971 residents.</p>.<p>Dharmananda Deb, a lawyer who provided free legal aid to Depali, told DH that applicants seeking citizenship under the CAA face difficulties in submitting documents to prove they were Bangladeshi citizens. “How can we expect someone who fled persecution to provide such papers? People escaped with their lives, without any belongings,” he said.</p>.<p>“Bengalis are tagged as Bangladeshis just because of the language. If the government truly wants to resolve the citizenship crisis of Hindu Bengalis, all these conditions must be removed,” said Sanjib Deb Laskar, president of the Barak Valley Banga Sahitya Sanskriti Sammelan, a literary body based in Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar.</p>.<p><strong>Highlights: </strong></p><p>CAA passed in 2019 to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan CAA demand strong among Hindu Bengalis, BJP vote bank But most Hindu Bengalis claim pre‑1971 roots, avoid CAA CAA applicants struggle to prove Bangladeshi origin</p>