NDA brought CAB to fix historic wrongs, writes MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy

December 11: For all those who fled away leaving their home and hearth from erstwhile East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) to India, 11 December, 2019 will be a day too close to their hearts. This day will go down in the annals of history as a red letter day for those who were uprooted from their land due to religious persecution. I may not be wrong to term 11 December as the real independence day for those who were left by the dynastic Congress party at the mercy of none.

The way our Home Minister Amit Shah ji spearheaded the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) both in the Lok Sabha on 9 December, 2019 and in the Rajya Sabha on 11 December, 2019 proves his acumen as a politician who successfully diagnosed the wounds of the Hindu Bengalis and prescribed successfully a therapy which would go a long way in healing the deep rooted wound. I belonging to one such uprooted family express heartfelt thanks to Amit Shah Ji for his role as a statesman in the truest sense of the term.

The man who made this happen, the man who thought with compassion for the uprooted, deprived and rejected Hindu Bengali migrants, the man who kept his electoral promise is none other than our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I would thank Modi Ji on behalf of lakhs of Hindu-Bengali who have been suffering deprivation from the Congress has finally been given justice. His vision and mission coupled together has given birth to a new India for which we all can be immense proud.

While participating in the CAB debate in Lok Sabha last Monday, I categorically stated that this is a historic day and my family waited for 70 long years to witness this day. It is important to mention that I come from an uprooted family. My grandfather in the dark night crossed the border from Sylhet to Silchar in a bullock cart along with 12 members of our family. Leaving aside the home, hearth & agricultural lush green fields, my family migrated to India to save their lives.

Today I am indeed proud of my roots and remember by grandfather and my father. My father, Late Bimolangshu Roy, an Advocate by profession and a politician by choice always used to speak of such a day when our own government would rectify the wrongs committed upon the Hindu Bengali community who migrated to Assam in India suffering religious persecution. He represented Silchar assembly constituency in the Assam Legislative Assembly as a BJP MLA. He was one such man who fought all throughout his life for the cause of the uprooted Hindu Bengali community.  As a son of such an illustrious father, the passage of the CAB is my tribute to him.

I like to put on record that that after 70 long years of partition and independence, the dreams of Shyama Prasad Mukharjee has bore fruit. Along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, I would also like to thank former Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji for introducing this much needed Bill to fix the historic wrongs. All three of them have exhibited what is called 56 inch chest. I also express my thanks to the Chief Minister of Assam and state BJP leader Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma for piloting the Bill and preparing the ground for passing it.

I have seen my grandparents, my parents lament about the home and property which they were compelled to leave behind in Sylhet and come over to Silchar to save their lives. Such tales of sorrow are very common in every Hindu Bengali household of Barak Valley comprising of the 3 districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi from where I belong. This Bill is a tribute to all of them.