NONNRC ASSAMESE MAY GET WORK PERMITS
NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry is considering a proposal to grant work permits, among other measures, to people living in Assam who do not qualify as citizens of India for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a senior government functionary said.
The proposal, if accepted and implemented, will enable those who are delisted as Indian citizens to continue to live and work in India although they will be deprived of their right to vote. The proposal contradicts statements by some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who have vowed to drive out illegal migrants from Assam.
“No country will accept them. Where can these people be sent away to? Some kind of an alternative will have to work out,” the government functionary cited above said on condition of anonymity. A query to the Union home ministry on the work permits proposal went unanswered.
Detection and deportation of illegal immigrants was the key demand by students in the northeastern state who spearheaded the six-year agitation that ended with the signing of the Assam accord of 1985. The accord provided for the Centre to detect, delete from the voters’ list and deport those who entered Assam after March 1971.
The final draft of the NRC for Assam, published on July 30, excluded four million names and included 28.9 million. The register is now being updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court in a process that involves filing of claims and objections with the state coordinator of the NRC by those who have been left out.
“The issue is being monitored by the Supreme Court, the process of filing objections has begun; much depends on when the all the claims are verified and final NRC list is ready,” another senior official who didn’t want to be named said.
“A final decision on how to deal with those who fail to qualify as citizens will emerge as we come closer to the date.”
The proposal to grant work permits to those deemed to be illegal migrants isn’t new. It was examined in detail by then deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani during the previous NDA regime headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee that was voted out in 2004.
After the Congress-led UPA came to power that year, the proposal was put on the backburner.
Officials also said a recent decision to allow minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis from neighbouring countries --Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- to apply for Indian Citizenship may also come to the aid of many who are left out of the NRC. The All Assam Students Union (AASU), which spearheaded the 1979-85 Assam agitation in the 1980s – and several other organizations have objected to this proposed change.
They have said 1985 Assam Accord would be rendered null and void if minorities from neighbouring countries are allowed to become citizens.