Assam’s largest student body on Thursday organised a statewide hunger strike against the Union government’s move to allow members of minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, who came to India until December 31, 2024, to escape religious persecution, to stay without a passport or other travel documents.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which came into force last year, earlier applied only to those who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) said the latest order paved the way for undocumented Hindu Bangladeshis, who came until 2024, to remain in Assam. It demanded that Assam be completely excluded from its ambit. AASU said it strongly opposes the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025.
“Any conspiracy to settle illegal Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam until 2024 will never be accepted by the people of Assam or by AASU. This order is even more dangerous than the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” said AASU president Utpal Sharma and general secretary Samiran Phukan in a joint statement.
The statement said the government had violated the Assam Accord by passing the CAA, which granted citizenship to undocumented Hindu Bangladeshis.
{{/usCountry}}The statement said the government had violated the Assam Accord by passing the CAA, which granted citizenship to undocumented Hindu Bangladeshis.
{{/usCountry}}The 1985 Assam Accord applied to undocumented immigrants irrespective of their religious affiliations. Indigenous groups in Assam argued the CAA could lead to an influx of immigrants from Bangladesh.
AASU has been seeking to exclude Assam from the ambit of the CAA. “...to suddenly pass this new order allowing illegal foreigners until 2024 is utterly unacceptable. This order is destructive to the indigenous population and completely communal,” the statement said.
AASU’s chief advisor, Samujjal Bhattacharyya, said their members were observing an 11-hour hunger strike at all district headquarters. “We decided to start a programme against the CAA last week, and now this new decision of the central government has been added. We are going to burn copies of the order across district headquarters.”
Bhattacharyya noted that Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh are excluded from the CAA. He added that 98% of Meghalaya, 70% of Tripura, and eight districts of Assam are also excluded. “Why should the rest of Assam bear the burden of immigrants alone?” He asked if CAA is bad for Sixth Schedule (tribal) areas and the states with Inner Line Permit, how can it be good for the rest of the 25 districts of Assam? “This state is not a dumping ground. We demand exclusion of the entire Assam from CAA, respecting the Assam Accord,” Bhattacharyya said.
He said a candle march, sit-in, and letters to the central government are planned. “Apart from exclusion of Assam from CAA, we demand an error-free NRC [National Register of Citizens], a special drive to push back all illegal migrants, action against fundamentalists visiting Assam, and implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord as per the Biplab Sharma committee’s recommendation. We are fighting to protect the originality of Assam.”
Congress leader Debabrata Saikia said the fresh order is against the spirit of the Assam Accord. “Earlier, we opposed CAA, and now we oppose this exemption. It allows infiltrators to stay until 2024. If this continues, Assam will lose its identity.” He accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of destroying India’s future for its communal politics.
Dharmananda Deb, a former member of a Foreigners Tribunal in Silchar, said under CAA, the cut-off date for applying for Indian citizenship is December 31, 2014. “The new notification does not alter that deadline. It only gives an additional safeguard for these minorities, allowing them to stay in India without fear of prosecution. This order does not grant citizenship. It only shields them from legal action.”