India yesterday effectively stripped four million people in Assam of citizenship, sparking fears of mass deportations of Muslims from the northeastern state. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) list has been published by the State Coordinator Prateek Hajela, India’s Registrar General, Sailesh and Joint Secretary (North-East) of India’s Home Ministry, Satyendra Garg in a press conference at Guwahati.
Resource-rich Assam, which borders Bangladesh, is in the grip of social and communal tension as residents campaign against illegal immigrants, a fight backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government.
“The NRC is a legal process under India’s Citizenship Act, 1955. It has been transparently and meticulously carried out. It has provided adequate opportunity to all applicants who submitted in 2015 and we came out with the first draft. Today, we are releasing the second draft,” Hajela told a news conference in Guwahati.
Of more than 32 million people who submitted documents to prove their citizenship, the names of 4,007,707 were missing, Sailesh, the registrar general said.
“I must stress that this is a draft, not the final one,” he added.
Officials said security had been tightened across the state as thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims worry about being sent to detention centres or deported.
Soldiers stood guard at government offices, where thousands of people queued to check their names on the so-called National Register of Citizens (NRC), Reuters witnesses said.
It was earlier reiterated by senior cabinet ministers of Assam, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh and NRC officials that excluded applicants would get ample opportunities for filing claims and objections.
Reaffirming the matter, the Registrar General said: “The process of making claims and objections will begin on August 30, 2018 and continue till September 28, 2018. Adequate and ample scope would be given to the people for that purpose.”
The Joint Secretary of India’s Home Ministry for Northeast India Satyendra Garg said: “It is a historic day. Everybody is welcome here. I want to touch upon few issues as told by India’s Central Government. What we are releasing today is a draft. Nobody will be taken to detention centres and nobody will be referred to the Foreigners’ Tribunal. We are committed to maintaining law and order and feel confident it will be done so at any cost. Anybody doing mischief will be dealt with sternly.”
Speaking to reporters at Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister (CM) Sarbananda Sonowal congratulated the people of the state for successful publication of the NRC list and said: “This historic day will remain etched in our memories forever.
“NRC is a national program. It is the duty of every Indian citizen to maintain peace in the wake of its publication,” the CM further said adding that genuine Indian citizens whose names did not figure in the list would get ample opportunity to file claims and objections.
Assam’s former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, while speaking to this correspondent over the phone spoke on a different angle. He said, “Majority of those excluded from the NRC list today are genuine Indian citizens. We want an accurate list irrespective of caste, class and religion.
Nasreen Habib, a senior journalist based in Guwahati told this correspondent over the phone: “The excluded ones numbering more than 40 lakhs [4 million] got a one-month opportunity to claim files and objections. But that would not be sufficient. Instead, two months would do better. Besides, those who would undergo verification after being excluded from the NRC list today should be provided assistance of sorts by the government as many of them are poor and illiterate. Besides, the NRC is a complicated process. The government should also make its stance clear on those who find their names excluded after filing claims and objections. A decision on them should be reached.”
Dwindralal Das, a senior journalist based in Assam’s Barak Valley told this correspondent over the phone: “After the first draft of NRC was released on 31 December, 2017 midnight of there were many whose names were excluded. Consequently, they had to undergo verification. Around this time, those who found their names excluded would have to undergo the same process as well. However, we hope the genuine citizens among the nearly 40 lakhs of excluded ones will get justice.”
