In most countries across the world, a residence record spanning nearly 50 years, a record of service to the society in various capacities such as being a veteran, regular tax filing for decades, law-abiding behaviour etc. should be more than enough to prove citizenship, NOT in India though.
A career soldier, a serving doctor, a mother who is deemed an Indian citizen but her daughters are not, a brother whose real brother is a citizen but he is an illegal immigrant, a sitting member of Legislative Assembly in Assam excluded and even an ex President's family being omitted are some of the stories emanating from the unending human tragedy that is the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam.
Authorities in the northeastern state of Assam have published a citizenship list that aims to identify genuine citizens and seeks to exclude "Bangladeshi immigrants". "Bangladeshi immigrants" are defined as all those who are unable to provide documentary evidence of their citizenship prior to 1971 including descendants of those whose names were not part of the original NRC list published in 1951. The NRC list is unique to Assam and was first prepared in 1951. The work on the latest NRC list started in 2015 as part of a Supreme Court-monitored exercise. It includes those whose names appear in the 1951 document and their descendants. The list also includes those who have been on India's electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, or in any other document approved by the government. The first list was published last year and a final list was released on 31st August. A total of 31.1 million people were included in the NRC, leaving out1.9 million people.
The stated objective of the government is to detect and deport undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh but here's the catch, the government does not have an agreement with the Bangladeshi government to deport the so-called illegal immigrants. Neither is there a plan as to what happens next if Bangladesh refuses to accept them which in all likelihood it will. Will we start Nazi-style concentration camps? Will we stuff them in our already overcrowded jails for perpetuity or simply execute them? The simple answer is, no one knows, not the state government, not the central government and definitely not the supporters of NRC who are demanding that the fiasco be repeated pan-India. India and Pakistan still carry the wounds of partition when more than 10 million people were uprooted. We refuse to learn from our own past when we are insisting on uprooting two million people from just one state in India and plan to uproot tens of millions of people across India as part of a pan India NRC exercise. This will be nothing short of pushing India into a civil war-like situation!
I hope and pray that we as a people learn from our mistakes and do not repeat this exercise anywhere else. I also hope that the government of the day finds a way to allay the fears of the 1.9 million people who are living in a state of panic and despair. A possible solution might be to give them permanent residency status which allows them to stay and work in India but does not entitle them to vote. This should appease the majoritarian sentiment while at the same time be palatable to the ruling BJP as it tilts the electoral balance in their favour by disenfranchising a largely majority community dominated NRC exclusion list. Over a period of time, based on humane guidelines, most of those excluded can be rehabilitated or granted citizenship, once the political brinksmanship on the issue is over.
An interesting thought that crossed my mind while researching for this article. Those whom we are calling illegal immigrants were Indians till 1947, were alleged to be "not Indians" for 24 years when they allegedly crossed over from Bangladesh largely during the 1971 conflict from erstwhile East Pakistan and since then for 48 years have been residing in India, as Indians. Does it make them more "Indians" or otherwise?
I would like to end this article by bringing to the attention of policymakers who are devising schemes such as the NRC, that if they continue on this path then to their credit, the problem of immigration from Bangladesh will surely be solved permanently in a few years time. How? It is projected that the per capita GDP of Bangladesh will surpass that of India by 2024 on account of its GDP growth rate which is consistently higher than India's growth over the past few years. Then who knows, people might want to voluntarily migrate back to Bangladesh. Problem Solved!!
A career soldier, a serving doctor, a mother who is deemed an Indian citizen but her daughters are not, a brother whose real brother is a citizen but he is an illegal immigrant, a sitting member of Legislative Assembly in Assam excluded and even an ex President's family being omitted are some of the stories emanating from the unending human tragedy that is the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam.
Authorities in the northeastern state of Assam have published a citizenship list that aims to identify genuine citizens and seeks to exclude "Bangladeshi immigrants". "Bangladeshi immigrants" are defined as all those who are unable to provide documentary evidence of their citizenship prior to 1971 including descendants of those whose names were not part of the original NRC list published in 1951. The NRC list is unique to Assam and was first prepared in 1951. The work on the latest NRC list started in 2015 as part of a Supreme Court-monitored exercise. It includes those whose names appear in the 1951 document and their descendants. The list also includes those who have been on India's electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, or in any other document approved by the government. The first list was published last year and a final list was released on 31st August. A total of 31.1 million people were included in the NRC, leaving out1.9 million people.
The stated objective of the government is to detect and deport undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh but here's the catch, the government does not have an agreement with the Bangladeshi government to deport the so-called illegal immigrants. Neither is there a plan as to what happens next if Bangladesh refuses to accept them which in all likelihood it will. Will we start Nazi-style concentration camps? Will we stuff them in our already overcrowded jails for perpetuity or simply execute them? The simple answer is, no one knows, not the state government, not the central government and definitely not the supporters of NRC who are demanding that the fiasco be repeated pan-India. India and Pakistan still carry the wounds of partition when more than 10 million people were uprooted. We refuse to learn from our own past when we are insisting on uprooting two million people from just one state in India and plan to uproot tens of millions of people across India as part of a pan India NRC exercise. This will be nothing short of pushing India into a civil war-like situation!
I hope and pray that we as a people learn from our mistakes and do not repeat this exercise anywhere else. I also hope that the government of the day finds a way to allay the fears of the 1.9 million people who are living in a state of panic and despair. A possible solution might be to give them permanent residency status which allows them to stay and work in India but does not entitle them to vote. This should appease the majoritarian sentiment while at the same time be palatable to the ruling BJP as it tilts the electoral balance in their favour by disenfranchising a largely majority community dominated NRC exclusion list. Over a period of time, based on humane guidelines, most of those excluded can be rehabilitated or granted citizenship, once the political brinksmanship on the issue is over.
An interesting thought that crossed my mind while researching for this article. Those whom we are calling illegal immigrants were Indians till 1947, were alleged to be "not Indians" for 24 years when they allegedly crossed over from Bangladesh largely during the 1971 conflict from erstwhile East Pakistan and since then for 48 years have been residing in India, as Indians. Does it make them more "Indians" or otherwise?
I would like to end this article by bringing to the attention of policymakers who are devising schemes such as the NRC, that if they continue on this path then to their credit, the problem of immigration from Bangladesh will surely be solved permanently in a few years time. How? It is projected that the per capita GDP of Bangladesh will surpass that of India by 2024 on account of its GDP growth rate which is consistently higher than India's growth over the past few years. Then who knows, people might want to voluntarily migrate back to Bangladesh. Problem Solved!!
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