GUWAHATI, May 10—Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Asad Madani today cautioned that repeal of the IMDT Act might pose a serious threat to the existence of Assam as a language State. The Jamiat is opposed to any move to repeal the Act and will consistently fight out any such move. Instead of repealing the Act, it should be implemented all over the country to save the Indian Muslims from the harassment of the police in matters of determining their (Muslims) citizenship, he said.
Sri Madani who was talking to media persons at a press conference at the Circuit House here this afternoon, before leaving to New Delhi after a two-day tour of the tornado-ravaged Mankachar area, said that repeal of the IMDT Act would once again make the Muslims in Assam vulnerable to the persecution of the police in matters of nationality. And thus, the Muslims who have accepted Assamese as their own language will be driven out of the State by a persecution complex and as the indigenous ethnic groups in the State have also severed their links with their Assamese speaking brethrens to assert their independent identities, the Assamese speaking people will lose their majority status in Assam, he said.
He, however, made it clear that neither he personally, nor his organisation supported any foreign national illegally staying in any part of the country. “We are opposed to it,” he said emphatically. But, determining the nationality of a person is a big legal question. Any design to taint some genuine citizens as foreigners simply taking their appearance into consideration, is to be fought out openly, the Maulana said. The relevance of the IMDT Act lies in this context. It is absolutely necessary to give justice to the genuine citizens. Those who want to authorise the police with the power to determine the citizenship or nationality of a person, are in fact out to vitiate the atmosphere. They are no well wishers of the country, the Maulana said.
Commenting on the flaws of the 1946 Foreigners Act, he said that in the 1960s, at the instance of some communal forces, lakhs of Muslims were tried to be driven away and in the process, around six lakh Muslims were driven out of this part of the country. In fact, those were the people who had to flee Assam during the 1950 riot. And hence, they failed to get themselves figured in the 1951 census, he claimed. The then Assam Home Secretary MP Bezbaruah in a letter written to Assam Jamiat president on July 11, 1969, had admitted that there were cases of harassment on the Muslims in the State and he had also assured that there would be no further harassment on them, Sri Madani said.
But, persecution on the Muslims of the State still continued, thousands of them were killed at places like Nellie, 3.70 lakh of them were grouped as ‘D’ voters and now the Union Home Ministry has been propagating that there are 67 lakh and 228 foreigners in the State. Against such a backdrop, the IMDT Act provided these people some relief from the harassment of the police and communal forces. Those who want to repeal this Act will destroy the country by vitiating the atmosphere, he warned and pleaded for amend to all discrimination against the Muslims.
But when asked to answer in a categorical manner as to whether he believes or not that a large number of Bangladeshis have so far entered Assam illegally, he said that it was upto the Government to make any statement on such matters and to deal with the foreigners as per the law of the land. When asked as to whether the Jamiat has any agenda to get itself involved in the campaign to detect and deport such foreign nationals, he answered in the negative. He also denied that there was any abnormal rise in the number of Muslim population in Assam.