NRC is not against any community. It is needed to distinguish between a true Indian and a refugee or an illegal migrant.
Assam’s draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) lists as Indian citizens only those migrants who came to India after 1 January 1966 and before 25 March 1971. The NRC was first prepared in 1951 but was not updated by previous Assam governments for reasons of vote bank politics. However, it is because of the efforts of the present Central government and the Assam government that the final draft has seen the light of day.
Around 3.29 crore applications were received for inclusion in NRC, of which 40 lakh were found ineligible. This included the names of 2.48 lakh “doubtful” voters and those referred to the foreigner’s tribunal. It was a massive task that needed the 40,000 government employees, 8,200 outsourced workers and cost an approximate Rs 1,200 crore. The government has categorically announced that those whose names are not on the list may submit fresh claims for inclusion by September 2018. If, however, the fresh claims too are rejected, he or she can move the foreigner’s tribunal, then the High Court and further the Supreme Court. But this has not stopped politics from being played on the matter and heated debates between the ruling party leaders and those of the Opposition are ongoing, even in Parliament. The drama has gone to the extent of a few Trinamool Congress MPs and their leaders trying to visit Silchar in Assam, only to be apprehended at the airport by the Assam government, for reasons of security.
What is being forgotten in this melee is that the entire episode of scrutiny started with the Assam Accord that Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress government signed with Assam’s students in 1985 to identify the Bangladeshis in that state. In spite of that, successive Congress governments in Assam failed to implement the accord for fear of vote-bank backlash. What must also not be forgotten is that this exercise is not directed against any particular community but against those aliens, who are not Indians, but have falsely manipulated their stay in this country as Indians and are getting all facilities, thus depriving a real Indian of his or her rights. Bangladesh is a small country, even then it is trying to send the Rohingyas in its territory to Myanmar, but we have failed to send back even 50 Bangladeshis from the crores who have come here after 25 March 1971. It has been reported that Indian identity cards and voter cards are sold in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh before the illegals enter India through the border near Silchar. The worst affected areas in Assam in this regard are areas in Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri, Guwahati, Sonitpur, Silchar, Goalpara, Dhubri and Karimganj. The maximum infiltration has taken place in these areas, where land belonging to both the local people and the government has been captured by the Bangladeshis.
The need of the hour is to have the other states where these illegal immigrants have spread to follow Assam’s example and publish their respective NRCs. This applies also to Delhi and even Srinagar, especially for areas such as Qamarwari. To start with Bengal must have its NRC, followed by Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
As for Assam’s draft NRC, be it West Bengal or Arunachal Pradesh, all states must co-operate with the verification process. What are the states afraid of? A bloodbath? But then the draft NRC is not against any community. Its purpose is just to identify the aliens. Of course some political parties may try to give shelter to some of these illegals who may try to flee Assam to the nearby states. This must be avoided. Political parties must refrain from mudslinging and instead co-operate with each other to get implemented a policy framed for the sake of national security. Dragging Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan into the NRC issue should be avoided by political leaders, as it is the nation that is supreme. NRC is an important document and is needed to distinguish between a true Indian and a refugee or an illegal migrant.
P.K. Mishra is a retired Additional DG BSF.