A controversy might flare up over Indian citizenship in Assam

By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

In the North-Eastern state of Assam, a controversy over the issue of Indian citizenship is in making. This has to do with the updating work of National Register of Citizens (NRC), at present going on pilot basis, in two places in Assam, namely Barpeta revenue circle under Berpeta district and Chayagaon revenue circle under Kamrup district. As part of the project the citizens have been asked to attach some documents, as proof of their Indian citizenship with the standard government form. These documents include the list of NRC 1951, electoral roll of 1966 and that of 1971.

According to the government sources, the purpose of NRC is to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state. The fact, that NRC updating work is going on, under the direct supervision of GK Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India, shows how serious the government of India as far as this project is concerned.

The Bengali speaking Muslims along with some Bengali speaking Hindus of the state have protested vehemently against this project. And the protest is getting stronger day by day. They have virtually boycotted this project.

People's meeting to protest against NRC[Photo by BBC]

For instance in the first phase, out of 47 thousand forms which were distributed, only 17 forms were submitted by the Bengali speaking people.

On the other hand, all the Assami speaking individuals and organizations are happy with this step by the government. All Assam Student Union (AASU), the influential student organization in the state, has welcomed this move. In fact it is helping the state government in propagating this project in the state.

But the fact that no body, no government official, retired or working, ironically not even journalists, were ready to speak on record on this issue, only proves how sensitive the issue of Indian citizenship is in Assam. Except the representatives of the political parties in the state, only few journalists agreed to talk to TwoCircles.net, on the condition of anonymity.

TCN contacted H. S. Das Commissioner & Secretary, Tourism, Commissioner & Secretary, Finance, Assam he was not ready to talk on this issue. Even PC Sharm, former Chief Secretary who had been instrumental in formulating and framing NRC policy for the government of Assam, refused to comment on this subject, saying that ; “I don’t have any opinion on such a sensitive issue. I want to lead a peaceful life”

In order to understand the gravity of the situation, one needs to know the background in which this issue of National Register of Citizens is going on, because it will explain quite well, why the Bengali speaking population has objected to the NCR and why the indigenous Assami citizens have welcomed it.

It won’t be wrong to say that the fear of both the Bengali speaking population and Assami speaking indigenous population is playing out quite forcefully in the background of NRC project.

The turbulent history of Assam is a witness to the fact that the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants is a very sensitive one.

Now the Bengali speaking population which includes both Hindus and Muslims, doesn’t want to be identified as Bengali speaking citizen of Assam, because of various reasons.

One among them is the historic accord of 1985, between the Rajiv Gandhi government at the center and AASU, according to which the Assami speaking people will get extra privilege in the socio-economic development schemes of the government.

But probably the stigma of being categorized as Bangaldeshi (and then who knows of being deported to Bangladesh) is perhaps the biggest reason why the Bengali speaking Assamees, are against NCR. So in simple words, for a Bengali speaking Hindu and Muslim, NCR is an attempt to identify and if possible prove them as Bangladeshi.

And if one agrees with Abdur Rahim Khan, secretary, All Indian United Democratic Front, then the authorities are using illegal ways and means to prove genuine Indian citizens as Banladeshi.

For instance, the place of birth of all the 2 Lakhs Bengali speaking Muslims in Barpeta revenue circle, is mentioned as, “Maiman Singh, Dhaka, Bangladesh” in the government list.

Talking to this correspondent from Barpeta, over phone, Mr. Khan said “How can it be possible that the birth place of all 2 lakh people is the same place in Dhaka? It’s a complete lie being propagated by the government. The government list supplied by the district authorities identifies 25% of Bengali speaking population of Barpeta revenue circle as “doubtful” through a “D” which is there besides their name on the list.

That is not all; there are several anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971. According to Dr. Baharul Islam, general secretary, AIUDF, thousands of names are missing from the published copies of electoral rolls of 1966 and 1971. Then many genuine citizens are being sent notices for being allegedly, a foreigner (read Bangladeshi).

Assam government's notice for NRC[Phot by BBC]

AIUDF on its part has submitted many memorandums to the chief secretary of Assam, the central registrar general of citizen of India and also the Prime Minister of India. But nothing yet has been done by the officials to fix these anomalies.

Although AIUDF has not officially objected to the idea of NRC updating work but the people who are involved in these protests come largely from the same kind of political affiliations and AIUDF is supporting unofficially these protests, said a journalist who has followed this story very closely in the state but who didn’t want to be named.
All the villages of Barpeta revenue circles, dominated by the Bengali speaking population, have unanimously decided to boycott the registration process and not to submit the form. Because their approach towards the government’s effort to update NRC 1951, is largely characterized by suspicion and distrust.

They think that these anomalies and various discrepancies are there to sideline their names while scrutinizing the forms, which will lead to the ultimate elimination of their names from the NRC by the state officials.

“All these things area part of conspiracy against the Bengali speaking people of the state by the AASU leaders on whose instruction the Congress government is functioning these days”, accused Mr. Khan.

He alleged that the state administration has planned to run a detention camp where all the suspicious citizens (read Bengali speaking Assami citizens) will be kept

Expressing his views on the NRC updating work, Ishaq Ali Deewan, president of Assam Khilanjia Muslim Unnayan Parishad, said “We don’t want pilot project. NRC is poison for us. What will we do with a list in which our names won’t be there finally?”

Some are also planning to challenge the legality of this project. “The NRC is being done through a law which was passed and implemented in 2003, but it hasn’t got yet the approval of the Indian parliament. So it’s actually illegal” said Mr. Khan.

“If the state or the central government doesn’t do any thing to stop the pilot project in its present form, then on July, 20, 2010, we will file a PIL in the Supreme Court to stop this”, announced, Mr. Khan who is one of the leaders in the Barpeta revenue circle, leading the people’s protest against the pilot project of NRC.

Interestingly, the fear expressed above, by the Bengali speaking Assami population, is not without some basis. It’s substantiated and shared by a journalist in Agradoot, an Assami dialy, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Over the years it has been the government policy to officially underestimate the exact figure of Bengali speaking population, by eliminating their names from the voter list or identifying millions of the genuine Indian citizens as “doubtful”.

He also pointed out that “to be very frank, no body wants, neither the Congress nor the BJP or AGP who claim to pro Indigenous Assami people, to solve this issue of presence of illegal Bangladeshi’s in Assam. Had they wanted, they would have sealed the border which is the first step they would have done had they been serious. And all these parties have been in power then why didn’t any one of them try to solve these issues?”

“It is very simple”, he said, “every body wants to keep this issue alive and in cash it in terms of political vote banks.’

On the other side of the spectrum is the Assami speaking indigenous population, and AASU which claims to represent them, who think that the pilot project of NRC is the ultimate medicine and will solve the problem of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.

AASU is politically very active organization of the state. It is best known for leading the six-year Assam Movement against alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which culminated in the infamous Nellie massacre of more than 2,000 immigrant Muslims by the indigenous tribal people of Assam in 1983.

Samujjwal Bhattacharya, advisor to AASU, told this correspondent that “It is very important to identify the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who have become a threat not only for the security of the state. So we want that the NRC 1951 should be updated as per the Assam Accord 1985, which was a tripartite accord between the then Rajiv Gandhi Government, the Assam government and AASU. The Assam Accord says that people whose names have appeared in the electoral lists from the period of 1952 to 1971 are Indian citizens, and people who have come to Indian after 1971 should go.”

When asked about the objection of AIUDF about the alleged anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971, and missing names of thousands of Bengali speaking people from the lists, he said; “It’s very clear, that the names of all the Indians will be there. People who are genuinely from India don’t have any thing to fear about. We will give them full protection, irrespective of their religion and language. But yes, the illegal Bangladeshis will have to leave India.”

AASU was a part of meeting on May, 6 2005, which was chaired by PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh which decided to update the NRC 1951. It was also part of the meeting chaired by home secretary GK Pillai which decided to start pilot project of NRC updating work from Barpeta and Chaygaon revenue circles.

It is very interesting to see how the fears of the indigenous Assami population is affecting the fate of Bengali speaking population particularly Muslims in the state.

AASU actually plays on the fears of the indigenous Assami population which thinks that soon they will meet the same fate as that of Tripura, where the indigenous Tripuris have become minority with Bangladeshi Hindus becoming majority.

In Assam according to last census, Muslims constitute 31% of the state population. Out of these 31% Muslims, more than 75% people are Bengali speaking whom the indigenous Assami population largely homogenizes as “Bangladeshis.”

Because they are afraid that soon they will be outnumbered by what they call as “Bangladeshis”, at any cost they want the government to throw them out of the state or deport them to Bangladesh. It’s on these fears of becoming minority that parties like Asom Gana parishad (AGP), BJP and Congress base their politics in the state.

One journalist who has followed this issue very closely told this correspondent that “now when the assembly elections are months away, it is very much possible that it’s a ploy by the Congress government to attract the votes of the indigenous Assami speaking community, a traditionally AGP and BJP vote bank, to its own side and at the same time to scare the Muslims once and then delay or postpone the project. As it will serve both the purpose of reinforcing the Muslim votes and it will also manage to attract votes of the indigenous Assami people.”

Congress has at present 14 MLAs from the Bengali speaking areas which in total constitute around 40 assembly seats

He also said that, lately there have been quite a number of meetings by the concerned officials in both the central as well as the state governments. Because the way Bengali speaking population, which constitutes more than 30% of the state, has protested against NRC till now, the Congress government in the state and at the center wouldn’t ignore them because they can not afford to antagonize the community particularly when elections are just 6 months away.

“For both the Bengali speaking and the indigenous Assami population this issue of NRC is getting very serious and sensitive. Although the state is, any way divided on linguistic cum communal lines but this issue has the potential to rip the state apart on those lines.”

He pointed out that the NRC is an issue not only for Assam, even Bangladesh is following this process very closely because after identifying the so called Bangladeshis, the next logical step is to deport them. So it’s a foreign relations issue also.

“Given the turbulent history of the state over the issue of illegal Bangladeshi population, this issue of NRC has all the recipes for a perfect disaster, and if not handled sensitively, it might explode”, he ominously predicted.