Tag: NRC

Over To Citizenship

If my last post was about ending of one chapter of communal politics in India, the present is probably about the beginning of a new one. Passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and talk of a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) are proofs that the communal politics has gone to a different level. It speaks volumes about the failure of secular democratic forces in convincing common people that these principles are for their own well being. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend basic principles of the constitution. The project of dehumanizing a particular community has achieved a success.

On December 11, parliament passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) which makes acquiring Indian citizenship easier for the non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. To be eligible for getting Indian citizenship, the migrants from these three countries will have to stay in India for five years. This period is called naturalization period. For others who want to become Indian citizens, the naturalization period is 11 years.

The government argues that the act is aimed at protecting human rights of the religious minorities of the above mentioned three neighbouring countries. These people face persecution there because of their religious beliefs. Government also says that the act will not affect current citizens of India. It reasons that Muslims are excluded from the act as they form a majority in the three countries.

This explanation, rather than answering, raises questions. If the government wants to protect human rights of the persecuted people, why only religious minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are covered in this act? What about Tamils of Sri Lanka and Rohingya of Myanmar? In case of Rohingya, the Myanmar military is accused of committing genocide against the community in 2017. The case is on in the International Court of Justice. Further, religion is not the only ground of persecution. In our neighbouring countries, people face persecution on linguistic, ethnic and sectarian grounds. Shia and Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan face persecution. They are sectarian minorities. Why, then, the CAA picks and chooses countries and communities?

After the CAA comes in force, India will ask people their religion, and make some concessions for specific religions’ followers while granting citizenship. This goes against the secular character of the constitution. The naturalization period will be different for different people. This violates the principle of equality. The act does not talk about setting up of any mechanism to cross-check individual claims of religious persecution of its beneficiaries. It doesn’t stop here. Home minister Amit Shah has said in the Rajya Sabha that the government is planning to update National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country to determine illegal immigrants. It all raises serious doubts over the intentions of the NDA government.

It is claimed that the combination of CAA and NRC is aimed at targeting Muslims of India. There is fear that the combination will rob many of them of their Citizenship. Indigenous people of northeast fear that the CAA will give Citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus, who are as outsiders for them as Bangladeshi Muslims. They want all outsiders to go away from their land. Protests have erupted across the country against CAA and NRC from the second week of December. In many places the protests have turned violent, inviting crackdown from the state. 23 people have been killed so far in violence. The police is accused of targeting peaceful protests in the name of maintaining law and order. Over 50 Public Interest Litigations (PILs), challenging the constitutionality of CAA have been filed in the Supreme Court. They have demanded that the court should strike down the law. The top court has issued a formal notice to the central government, asking it to respond to the PILs. The next hearing is on January 22.

The government says that there is no reason for any community to fear. But actually, there is no solid reason for Indian muslims not to fear. The NDA government should step back and repeal the CAA. Nothing less than that will assure everybody. If not the government, the Supreme Court should strike it down. This law should not be allowed to continue. Apart from violating the basic structure of the constitution, it opens up new issue for divisive politics. The law aims at passing the baton of communal politics to citizenship from mandir-masjid. CAA-NRC combo will ensure that issues of employment, education, healthcare, environment, economy will remain in the backseat in the public debate. Violent protests are unjustified, so is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.  

Rules vs Life

It was hoped that the publication of final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be a step towards the solution of the issue of illegal immigrants in Assam. But at the end of the five-year long, Supreme Court monitored process, nobody is happy and the issue is nowhere close to solution. Disturbingly, it is taking communal colour.

National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the record of Indian citizens maintained by the government of India. It was first published in Assam in 1951 to determine Illegal immigrants from then East Pakistan. The updated list was published on August 31 this year in response to long-standing demand from the people of Assam. People were asked to apply for inclusion in the updated list with documents which prove that they were living in Assam as of March 24, 1971. In case a person is born after 1971, he/she has to prove that his/her ancestors were living in Assam as of March 24, 1971. For this, the person has to prove that his/her ancestors’ name had appeared in the 1951 NRC or electoral rolls of 1961 and 1971. On March 25, 1971 Bangladesh liberation war began. So anyone who came on or after that day without travel documents, and settled down in Assam will not be included in NRC and will be considered foreigner. Out of 3.29 crore people who applied for inclusion in the list, 19,06,657 could not make it to the updated list published on August 31 this year.

However, that does not mean that these over 19 lakh people are declared foreigners. They have legal options. They can approach foreigners tribunal, Gauhati High Court and Supreme Court to challenge their exclusion. The process of updating NRC was not as simple as it appears. Many of the excluded people are poor and illiterate. It was not easy for them to produce documents. In some cases, it so happened that some members of the family are included, and others from the same family are excluded. Plus, there are bureaucratic mistakes such as persons getting included or excluded due to spelling errors and other technical mistakes. Those who were demanding the updation are complaining that 19 lakh is too small a number. There are many more foreigners living in Assam. They allege flaws in the process.

The issue of “outsiders” settling down in Assam has remained burning one in the state. During colonial period British brought labours from adjoining areas of present day Bengal, Bihar and Odisha to work in tea plantations in Assam. Large number of people fled to the border state to escape violence from the then East Pakistan after partition. It is claimed that even after the creation of Bangladesh, people kept coming to Assam from there for better prospects and various other reasons. The ethnic Assamese felt threatened by the influx of outsiders. They feared complete change of culture and demography of the state if the immigration continues. They also feared that outsiders will exploit their resources. This fear led to six-year long violence against “foreigners” from 1979 to 1985. This violence led to the signing of Assam accord in 1985 between All Assam Students Union, Assam Gansangram Parishad, and government of India. Among others, the government had promised in the accord that it will update the NRC in Assam. However, subsequent governments from 1985 avoided the updation because they didn’t want to deal with the issue of illegal immigrants. Suppose a number of people are declared illegal immigrants. Now what to do with them?

The question still remains unanswered. For now, the government says that no action will be taken against anybody, and those not included in the list have legal options. What the government is not telling is that what it will do with those people who fail to make it to the register even after using all legal options. It is for sure that they will not be deported to Bangladesh as India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar told his Bangladeshi counterpart that NRC is an internal matter of India. Will the government, then, put them in detention centres? If yes, then for how long? And what will be their status in India after they come out from there? NRC updation reeks of communal politics as the NDA government in the centre is planning to bring Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB). If passed by parliament, it will allow granting of citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The condition is that they must be living in India for six years. In many quarters, updation of NRC and CAB are seen as a conspiracy to filter out Muslims and render them stateless. That is not the demand of people of Assam. They have problem with all outsiders irrespective of their religion. Detaining and deporting people immediately after they cross the border, and doing it after so many years are not the same things. Passports, visas, travel documents, legal provisions are introduced to make human lives easy. In the episode of NRC, we are using the same to make them vulnerable.

Image Credit: Google