Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2: BJP treads cautiously in Assam's Silchar, keeps contentious CAA issue at bay

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National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Silchar is a tough contest in the making. Assam had published an NRC in 2019, which did not feature the names of several residents of Silchar. While the CAA was passed in December 2019, its rules were notified last month just ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 schedule.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pledged that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would provide vital relief to the Hindu Bengalis residing in the valley. This assurance of CAA implementation played a pivotal role in securing the BJP's triumph in the Barak Valley, garnering significant backing from the Bengali Hindu populace. According to a report published by The Indian Express, the hopes around CAA seemed to have dimmed among the Bengali Hindus of the Barak Valley.

The Barak Valley region – which shares an over 125 km-long border with Bangladesh – saw the influx of a large Bengali Hindu population following the 1947 Post-Independence Partition, in a bid to escape persecution in what was then East Pakistan. During his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the Brahmaputra Valley, Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma revealed that only one person hailing from the Barak Valleyhad applied for citizenship under the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This statement comes amidst the valley's staunch opposition to the CAA, citing its perceived contravention of the 1985 Assam Accord.