Assam on edge over NRC draft
SIMMERING TENSION Nearly 45,000 police and paramilitary forces deployed across the state to counter any violence
GUWAHATI: At midnight on Saturday, millions across Assam will be glued to their smartphones or computer screens trying to find if their names are in a draft list of Indian citizens amid heightened security in the state.
The first draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC), the result of a contentious exercise undertaken only in Assam with the aim of weeding out illegal immigrants, will be made public at midnight on December 31.
Apprehending violence and unruly incidents from those whose names are not in the draft, nearly 45,000 police and paramilitary forces have been deployed.
“The NRC is being done to identify illegal Bangladeshis residing in Assam,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s finance minister who is also in charge of the citizenship register, said. “All those whose names do not figure in the NRC will have to be deported. We’re taking no chan-
ces and hence all security measures have been taken.”
Reuters quoted Bangladesh’s home minister Asaduzzaman Khan saying Dhaka had no knowledge of any plans to deport people. “We didn’t receive any information from the Indian government, neither formally nor informally,” he said. It is esti-
mated that there are more than 2 million Muslims in Assam who trace their roots to Bangladesh.
The draft will be crucial for many like Mohd Azmal Hoque. The retired junior commissioned officer of the Indian Army will be hoping his name and those of his family members are on the list.
The 49-year-old hit the head-
lines two months ago when he was summoned by a foreigners’ tribunal asking him to prove he is an Indian and not an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
Following public outcry and verification of his records, the police claimed that the notice sent to him was a case of mistaken identity. Hoque was lucky; many
other may not be.
“Not just me, but several of my relatives were also served notices. The tribunals have verified our records and cleared doubts about our citizenship. Now we are confident our names will appear in the first NRC draft,” Hoque told HT.
The NRC is being updated in Assam for the first time after 1951 to identify those who may have entered the state after March 25, 1971, a date agreed in the Assam Accord signed between the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the Centre in 1985.
The names of those who can prove links with family members whose names appeared in the 1951 NRC or subsequent electoral rolls till March 25, 1971 will be included in the updated NRC.
Entry of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which has been going on allegedly for decades, is a contentious issue. Many fear an unabated influx is a threat to the state’s indigenous population.
In 2005, as part of an agreement between the central government, the state government, and AASU, it was decided to update the 1951 NRC to prepare a comprehensive list of bona fide Indian citizens in the state.
The process started in 2015, but it got a big push after the BJP came to power in Assam for the first time last year. The ouster of illegal immigrants was one of the main poll promises of the BJP.