Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the estimated number of people who will apply for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be between three and six lakh.
Sarma shared the estimated figure during an interview with a leading Guwahati-based satellite news channel on Saturday on wide-ranging issues, including the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The chief minister said: “Some Bengali Hindus do not figure in the NRC. Some Assamese people do not figure in the NRC (National Register of Citizens) like us — Das, Sarma, Kalita — are not there. I think a section of those who applied for inclusion in the NRC will apply for citizenship under the CAA and the remaining will go to the court (Foreigners Tribunal) to prove their Indian citizenship. There will be no new applicants from outside this.”
The CAA expedites the process of granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India without papers before December 31, 2014.
According to Sarma, those who did not make the NRC cut, included around seven lakh Muslims, two lakh Koch-Rajbongshi, Das, Kalita, Sarma (Assamese), five lakh Hindu Bengalis and 1.5 lakh Gorkhas.
“Of these, most will not apply under CAA, they will go to the (foreigners) Tribunal as they have papers. Therefore, those applying under the CAA, will be between three to six lakh margin. I may be wrong or right by ten per cent (in terms of the numbers) but the figure will not be 20 lakh or 18 lakh or 15 lakh or 1.5 crore (as claimed by the anti-CAA brigade),” the chief minister said.
Targetting the anti-CAA brigade, Sarma said people will get an idea of how many have applied under the CAA a day before April 19, the first phase of polling in Assam, after the CAA rules were notified on March 11.
“It will be almost 40 days till a day before the polls. Say, after 40 days, not even 50,000 have applied! That is why I think CAA will be a game-changer and for the first time people will understand the andolanjeevi (agitationists) who have misled the people by invoking fear (about influx),” the chief minister said, adding the picture will get “more” clearer vis-a-vis CAA applicants before the 2026 Assembly polls.
