Only Four Get CAA Citizenship in Assam in Five Years. A Flop Act?

Two persons, including a woman, have been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam, taking the total number of beneficiaries in the state to four , their lawyer said. This marks the first instance of a woman receiving citizenship under the Act in Assam.

Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb , a former member of the Foreigners’ Tribunal in Silchar, said the certificates were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday and are deemed effective from the date the individuals entered India. He declined to disclose their identities, citing fears of social harassment .

The woman, aged 40 , entered India from Bangladesh in 2007 and has been residing in Sribhumi , while the second beneficiary, a 61-year-old man , came to India in 1975 and has been living in Cachar . The woman, who hails from Chittagong , had accompanied a family member for treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital , married a local resident, and settled in Assam.

Her initial citizenship application, filed after the CAA rules were notified last year , was rejected due to confusion arising from the delimitation exercise ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which altered district boundaries. The application was later resubmitted and approved.

While the latest approvals mark a milestone, they have also renewed debate over the limited reach of the CAA , more than five years after it was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019 .

Despite being projected as a measure to provide relief to persecuted Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Parsi minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971, and December 31, 2014 , the actual number of beneficiaries remains strikingly low .

In Assam, where the Act triggered widespread protests and claimed five lives , only about 40 people have applied for citizenship since the rules were notified, with several applications either rejected or pending . This is in sharp contrast to the nearly two lakh individuals identified as doubtful citizens in the state.

Legal experts and officials point to multiple reasons for the poor response. These include fear of legal scrutiny , especially in a state shaped by the NRC process , lack of documentary proof to establish date of entry and residence, and concerns over social backlash . Administrative delays and limited awareness about the application process have further dampened interest.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has previously maintained that most Hindu migrants from Bangladesh entered Assam before the 1971 cut-off , reducing the pool of eligible applicants under the Act.

Nationally too, the numbers remain modest, with citizenship grants running into only a few hundred , far below early projections of lakhs of beneficiaries . The absence of a consolidated official tally has added to questions about the real-world impact of the law.

As Assam records just four citizenship grants under the CAA , the figures underscore a growing perception that the legislation, despite its political significance, has so far seen few takers , raising questions over whether the Act has delivered on its stated objectives.