Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that Assam was “originally a part of Myanmar” on Friday. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing respondents, during the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 in the top court.
While highlighting the complexity of tracing population movements across history, Sibal said, “Migration of people and populations is embedded in history and cannot be mapped. If you look at the history of Assam, you’ll realise that it is impossible to figure out who came when.”
“Assam was originally a part of Myanmar. It was way back in 1824 after the British conquered part of the territory that a treaty was entered into by which Assam was handed over to the British. You can imagine the kind of movement of people that might have taken place in the context of the then British Empire,” he told the Supreme Court.
On December 5, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud began hearing the petitions challenging the provision of the Act. The Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench, which also includes Justices AS Bopanna, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, is tasked with addressing the constitutional validity of Section 6A.
Sibal’s comments drew flak from Assam Pijush Hazarika who said on X, “Kapil Sibal has been poorly briefed and speaks a left liberal view that tends to alienate North East by conjuring such theories. At no point in Assam’s history, we were part of Myanmar. From the times of Mahabharat and before, we have firmly been an integral part of Bharatvarsh.”
