Though the bill was passed by two houses of Parliament, there was fierce debate with opposition members, cutting across party lines, vehemently opposing the measure. So strong was the reaction that Abdul Rehman, an Inspector General-rank police officer, quit in “civil disobedience” against CAB whose idea, he said, “is to divide the nation on religious and sectarian lines” and “creating fear among Muslims”. He took this strong step after Home Minister Amit Shah’s assurance that Indian Muslims have nothing to fear. In a U-turn, Shiv Sena, did not vote on the bill in the Rajya Sabha with its three MPs walking out. The party had voted for the bill in Lok Sabha.

The CAB has faced its most fierce backlash in Northeast. This is not a surprise, for it is the Northeast, which has witnessed the intersection of debates around ethnicity, religion, citizenship, migration and cross-border flow of people most intensely. In Assam, the anti-immigration sentiments led to mass movement, culminating in the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens. Tension between Bengali speakers, who mostly migrated from what is now Bangladesh and used to be East Pakistan from 1947 to December 1971, and indigenous people, have persisted in Tripura. Nagaland is home of Asia’s longest insurgency, seeking its distinct identity and geography. Manipur has witnessed insurgencies, and conflicts between both the dominant Meitel community with “outsiders”, and between Meitels tribes. And it is in all these states —and Meghalaya, Mizaram and Arunachal Pradesh—where there is cross-cutting resentment against migrants.

To allay fears that CAB would mean an influx of immigrants, the Centre made three decisions. The cut-off date for religious minorities seeking expedited citizenship was fixed for December 31,2014. Those availing CAB provisions would not be able to settle in states requiring an Inner Line Permit (ILP)—Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh — and sixth schedule areas, which include part of Assam, almost all of Meghalaya, part of Tripura. Finally, ILP was extended to Manipur.

This has helped the BJP win the support of some of its allies in the region. It has also managed to get its local units to fall in line. But as the protest show, there remains anger. Several newspaper editorials have argued the CAB and the idea of nation-wide National Register of Citizens is flawed and dangerous for it undermines India’s constitutional values and will burden citizens. It also has potential to unsettle the fragile peace, as the Northeast shows. Ironically, for a party which emphasizes the idea of “one Nation”, the BJP has reinforced and even created almost an entirely distinct exception for the Northeast from CAB. Equally ironical that a government which speaks of making the Northeast the lynchpin of its Act East policy, has introduced a move which can usher in drastic instability. And, for the Centre, which to its credit, has ensured peace in the Northeast, a move that revives old wound could be a political and security threat.

The real test awaits it in Supreme Court where a number of petitions have been already filed to challenge CAB on the ground that it is at odds with Constitutional provisions — in particular, Articles 14 and 15 which forbid the state from discrimination on religious and other grounds. Home minister Amit Shah argued that the bill meets “the reasonable classification” threshold of exception. But whether the legislation passes judicial muster remains to be seen.

The government will also have to answer why the bill does not cover Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. The Home Minister said that CAB wasn’t against any community and that it would not have been necessary had the Congress not accepted partition on the basis of religion. This argument may not hold weight as India was not created on basis of religion; only Pakistan was. That, in fact, is the differentiator between India and Pakistan, and arguably the reason India is much more of a success story than Pakistan is. India is also held in higher regard among the comity of modern nations for that reason. (IPA Service)