The All Assam Students’ Union on Thursday said that it will protest against the state government’s decision to drop foreigners tribunals cases against non-Muslims who entered the state before 2015.

The Assamese nationalist students’ organisation also demanded the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act from Assam.

Scroll was the first to report on Tuesday that Assam’s Bharatiya Janata Party government, citing the amended citizenship Act, has asked district authorities and members of the foreigners tribunals to drop cases against persons from six communities – Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi – who entered the state on or before December 31, 2014.

The state’s home and political department had held a meeting on July 17 and discussed “issues related to foreigners tribunal with reference to Citizenship Amendment Act” and the “dropping off cases”. The meeting was held following a directive from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

In its statement on Thursday, the All Assam Students’ Union said that it opposed the government’s order directing the withdrawal of the cases against “illegal Hindu Bangladeshis” pending before the tribunals and demanded the cancellation of the decision that “granted protection” to them.

It added that copies of the order would be burnt by members of the organisation in every district headquarters on Friday. “This directive that seeks to protect Bangladeshis must be repealed,” the statement said.

“There must be a permanent solution to the burning problem of illegal foreign nationals in Assam on the basis of the Assam Accord,” it added. “Therefore, it is necessary to expel all illegal Bangladeshis, Hindu and Muslim, who came after 1971 on the basis of the Assam Accord.”

Assam was not a “pasture” for undocumented Bangladeshi migrants, the group said, adding that the Union government was “unfairly” imposing the Citizenship Amendment Act on the state.

The Citizenship Amendment Act is aimed to provide a fast track to citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and have entered the country by December 31, 2014.

It was passed by Parliament in December 2019. The Union government notified the rules under the Act in March 2024.

The foreigners tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship based on lineage and a 1971 cut-off date. They rely primarily on documents submitted by persons to establish their family’s residency in Assam or India before 1971.

The tribunals have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and declaring people foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.

Of the 1.6 lakh persons declared foreigners so far, more than 69,500 are Hindus.

Critics contend that the Citizenship Amendment Act undermines the 1985 Assam Accord between the Union government and the leaders of the Assam Movement, which was launched in 1979 to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.

The accord stipulates that anyone who entered Assam after the midnight of March 24, 1971, be identified and deported.

Assamese nationalist view “illegal migrants”, irrespective of their religion, as a threat to the state’s culture and resources.

On Thursday, the All Assam Students’ Union also noted that the Union government had ensured that “98% of Meghalaya, 70% of Tripura and eight districts, including BTR [Bodoland Territorial Region] and hill districts, of Assam” did not come under the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“This means that CAA does not apply in most of the states and places in the North East,” the statement said. “There are 27 out of 35 districts in Assam where the CAA is in force. Assam is the worst affected state in the North East.”

Claiming that the Act was harmful and “anti-indigenous”, the All Assam Students’ Union said that Assam must be completely excluded from its scope.

70,000 designated foreigners may become citizens, says Congress

Congress leader Debabrata Saikia said on Thursday that he had sent a letter to several organisations in the state, urging them to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and to form public opinion against it.

The leader of the Opposition in the Assembly said that Act violated the Assam Accord.

“The BJP government is presently formulating plans to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, which contravenes the Assam Accord, and to grant citizenship to foreigners,” Saikia said.

The chief minister has already issued directions on the withdrawal of the cases against foreign nationals pending in the tribunals on the basis of their religion, Saikia added.

“Should this order be implemented, approximately half a million foreign nationals within our state, currently excluded by the Assam Accord, would become eligible for Indian citizenship,” he claimed.

About 70,000 persons previously designated as foreigners by the tribunals may also become Indian citizens, the Congress leader added.

“This decision of the government will not only violate the Assam Accord but also have a negative impact on the economic situation and limited natural resources of our state,” Saikia said, adding that the government had not refuted reports about its directive.

The Citizenship Amendment Act had sparked massive protests in Assam and several other parts of the country in 2019 and 2020. However, the amended law was welcomed by Assam’s Bengali Hindus.

In August 2019, Assam published a National Register of Citizens with the aim of separating Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in the state. More than 19 lakh persons, or 5.7% of the applicants, were left out of the final list.

In March 2024, Sarma said five lakh Bengali Hindus, two lakh Assamese Hindu groups Koch-Rajbongshi, Das, Kalita and Sarma (Assamese), and 1.5 lakh Gorkhas had been left out of the National Register of Citizens.

The chief minister had also said that seven lakh Muslims are among the 19 lakh persons excluded from the register.

The ruling BJP had claimed that Hindus excluded from the register in Assam would be able to gain citizenship under the amended law. There have been fears that Muslims would be the only ones who stand to lose their citizenship in such an exercise.