Bills Can Bite Back

The BJP’s citizenship bill push in the northeast can cost it electorally

- Abdul Gani

IN the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won their highest tally of seats in the northeast: as many as eight out of 24, out of which seven came from Assam only. But 2019 is a different year.

The protests in the last few months against the BJP-backed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in northeast states suggest that the party has misread the situation it once had some control over. It’s a curious story: the BJP had made its northeast inroads in 2014 by saying it would solve the long-standing illegal immigrant crisis. And things seemed to be working out on that front—a much-awaited census was finally conducted. But then came the CAB, which endorses giving citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries who have come to the states till December 31, 2014. Protests over the CAB, which has already been passed in the Lok Sabha, had begun to quieten, but the bill’s inclusion in the BJP manifesto recently has again stirred them up. It’s anybody’s guess that this will affect the party’s vote share in the coming elections.