The Immigrants And The Islamists

Where It Began

• Sharp rise in voters on the electoral rolls observed between 1977 and 1978 during Mongoldoi LS byelection

• AASU led the ‘Assam movement’ to stall the poll until ­“foreigners” removed from roll

• Thousands of Muslims were ­massacred in Nellie (Nagaon ­district) in 1983

• Accord signed in 1985 between the state, Centre and Assam movement leaders; March 25, 1971 made cut-off date for citizenship

Why The Urgency To Update NRC

• Festered for four decades without closure

• Pressure on land

• Political mileage from the issue

• Poor numbers of detection & deportation

• Continued suspicion based on ­religio-linguistic identity

Origins Of Bengali Muslims In Assam

• People moving due to pre-and post-Mughal conflict

• Colonial settlement of tea-estate workers

• East Bengal peasants settled to tackle food shortage

• Economic migration from East Pakistan

• Refugees fleeing state violence in East Pakistan till 1971

Ways Of Detecting Illegal Immigrants

• Basic “probe” by border police

• Doubtful or D-voter classification by election officials

• Both types referred to “foreigner tribunals”for adjudication; scant deportations

• NOW: NRC updation, monitored by Supreme Court

Citizen Records

• 1948-51: National Register for Citizens (census)

• 1951-66: Electoral rolls, land records

• 1966-71: Electoral rolls (but 10 years disenfranchisement from date of detection)

• 1971: March 25 is cut-off date for citizenship as per Assam Accord (1985)

How To Prove Your Citizenship

A. Legacy data documents

• 1951 National Register of Citizens

• Electoral rolls till 1971

B. Link documents* (Govt doc linking claimant to ancestor on legacy data)

• standard ID proof

• school certificate, birth certificate

• land documents, education certificates

• LIC policy, bank documents

• gram panchayat certificate

*list not exhaustive

Hurdles In Establishing Links

• illiteracy

• environmental migration

• lost/destroyed documents

• slight discrepancies in legacy documents

Politics Of Numbers (Of Illegal Bangladeshis)

• 1992 CM Hiteshwar Saikia: 3 million (U-turn after 2 days: “There are no illegal Bangladeshis in Assam.”

• 1992 PM P.V. Narasimha Rao remarks on “influx of Bangladeshis” as “root of Assam’s instability“

• 1997 CPI leader Indrajit Gupta: 10 million in Assam

• 2003 Defence Minister George Fernandes: 20 million in India

• 2004 MoS (Home) Sriprakash Jaiswal: 12 million (U-turn after controversy erupted)

• 2005 Assam Governor Ajai Singh: 6,000 per day

Graphic by Saji C.S.