August 4, 2018
Assam NRC: The Supreme Court of India failed by state apathy
40 lakh names struck off from Assam NRC: Parteek Hajela’s team made an unpleasant joke with peasantry of Assam and a gigantic mockery of public resources
By M. Burhanuddin Qasmi
Nearly 33 years after the Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and All Assam Students Union (AASU), the Assam state Coordinator for National Register of Citizens (NRC), Parteek Hajela, released the complete draft of NRC. Following more than 4 years of meticulous work since May 2015, the final draft was published in response to Honourable Supreme Court’s strong worded orders on Monday, 30 July 2018. The first draft of this updated NRC for the State was published at midnight on December 31, 2017 which listed 1.90 crore names. Remaining all genuine and verified citizens’ names were published in the second and complete draft which included total 2.89 crore out of 3.29 crore applicants and more than 40 lakh people have been left out of the list.
A final list of NRC is yet to come after due claims and objections are fully processed. Nobody knows when that could possibly be done; a dateline has not yet been set by the SC. However, the SC has already signaled its seriousness once more and asked the governments in the Sate and the Centre to submit a Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) with follow up modalities towards the complete list of NRC before it on 16 August at 2 PM in its order dated 31st July. The Apex Court has also clearly marked the status of the present complete draft in its 31st July order and observed, “In this regard the Court would like to observe that what has been published is only the Complete Draft NRC which naturally being a draft cannot be the basis of any action by any authority.”
Looking at the anomalies done by the State government while preparing the complete draft, the chances of a correct and acceptable final list to come in near future is very law or the SC has to come down with its own mechanism and professional enumerators to work in Assam. The State apathy is in clear display when the list is out now. Those who wanted to spoil or drag the job until present BJP-led Central government’s Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is passed in the Parliament might have succeeded to do so.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan on religious basis excluding only Muslims. This Bill has been strongly opposed by all Assamese – Muslim and Non-Muslims alike, including AASU, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) – the architects of Assam Accord, Congress and Maulana Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), except BJP which is in power in Assam since 2016.
According to the 2011 census, there were 1.06 crore Muslims in the Indian state of Assam, forming over 34.22% of its total population. Muslims are majority in almost 9 districts, living mainly in Barak valley region – Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, lower Assam – Dhubri, Goalpara and Barpeta, and in central Assam – Nagaon, Morigaon and Hojai districts, thus making them the second largest Muslim community, percentagewise, after the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. Assam, a northeastern state of India, is divided into 33 units of districts with 126 legislative assembly constituencies (LACs) and 14 national parliament constituencies (NPCs).
Why an Updated NRC in Assam?
In an article in The Indian Express August 1, 2018, Adrija Roy Chowdhury writes: “The issue of immigration had rankled ethnic relations in Assam since the years preceding Independence. American political scientist Myron Weiner, carrying out a census study in Assam, had noted based on the projection of the 1891 census that immigrants and their descendants would then number 8.5 million as opposed to locals and their descendants at 6.5 million. After free India took birth, however, the issue was brushed under the carpet until 1979 when the Assam movement began. What kept the immigration issue at bay was the centrality of language issue (Bhasha Andolon or Language Movement) in defining the boundaries of ethnic conflicts for a long time.
“While the immigration issue did come up once in a while, it was only in 1979 that it shook the state, defining the contours of ethnic and religious relations for years to come. “It ruptured carefully nurtured ethnic coalitions that were at the foundation of political stability in the state, setting the stage for a prolonged period of political turmoil,” writes political scientist Sanjib Baruah in his article ‘Immigration, Ethnic Conflict and Political Turmoil- Assam 1979-1985’.”
In between 1979 and 1985, “The Nellie Massacre took place in central Assam during a six-hour period in the morning of 18 February 1983... The massacre claimed the lives of 2,191 people (unofficial figures run at more than 10,000) from 14 villages … in and around Nellie— of Nagaon district. The victims were East Bengal rooted Muslims whose ancestors had relocated in pre-partition British India. Three media personnel — Hemendra Narayan of Indian Express, Bedabrata Lahkar of Assam Tribune and Sharma of ABC — were witnesses to the massacre. The victims were descendants of Muslims who came to Assam on the direct patronage of the then Assam Government of British India in the first decade of the 20th century.” (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
The violence that took place in Nellie was at the peak of the Assam Agitation; flung by so-called Assamese indigenous people, led by AASU against Bengalis living in the State. “It has been described as one of the worst pogroms since World War II.” (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
Thereafter, the Assam Accord of 1985 began with the assurance that the “government has all along been most anxious to find a satisfactory resolution to the problem of foreigners in Assam.” Consequently, it put together a list of resolutions to be implemented in order to solve the immigration issue in Assam.
In the heart of Assam Accord 1985 there lays the issue of an updated NRC in Assam, from the first NRC, which was prepared following an all India census in 1951. “In a tripartite meeting of the Central Government, State Government and AASU chaired by the Hon'ble Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) in May, 2005, it was agreed to update NRC 1951. The modalities were approved by the Government of India in consultation with the Government of Assam.” (Press Information Bureau Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, 04-April-2018)
For inclusion in the updated NRC in Assam, there are two main requirements – (a) existence of a person’s name in Legacy Data or (b) any one of the admissible documents issued up to midnight of 24 March 1971 and proving linkage with that person. “The documents namely 1951 NRC (National Register of Citizens) and Electoral Rolls up to midnight of 24th March, 1971 are collectively called as the Legacy Data” (http://nrcassam.nic.in).
Assam Chief Minister on NRC Final Draft
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal made crucial announcements for media following an all party meeting in the preceding evening of the 30 July NRC publication day in Guwahati. He said: "We had an all party meeting today with both ruling and opposition parties. NRC draft release is a crucial milestone for all of us in Assam. NRC updating has been completely done under the supervision and order of Honourable Supreme Court of India. No person should make it a source of religious or linguistic division in Assam. Those who might communalize or try to create rift within society will be dealt with strongly".
He also clarified three very important issues which were discussed and finalized in all party meeting on 29 July 2018 in presence of all legislative assembly members of Assam. He pointed out:
- This will be a complete NRC draft only, which is coming tomorrow, and not the final list. A final list is yet to come following all due process.
- Those whose names do not find a place in this draft should not worry at all; they will have option to reclaim for inclusion in the list as per the guidelines provided by the NRC authority. They should do it and the State government, political parties and NGOs will provide them with adequate assistance.
- Those whose names will be left out from this complete draft are not declared as foreigners; they will not be put in detention camps and will not be excluded from any rights of an Indian citizen.
AIUDF’s Stand on Draft NRC
Stalwart political and religious leader from Assam Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Dhubri MP and president of the apex Muslim body Assam State Jamiat Ulama-e Hind had also made an appeal to all citizens to check fake news and rumours in the evening on 29 July 2018. He said, "We have already activated AIUDF volunteers in all districts of Assam to legally help and guide genuine citizens whose name may not come in the complete draft. Our advocates and local committees are fully ready with a blue print to assist people in their need."
Maulana Ajmal also expressed his confidence one day before the draft publication saying that things will be peaceful in Assam following 30 July release of NRC complete draft. He said: "We Assamese are peace loving people and our citizens are mature enough to maintain peace and unity among them even during hard times."
However, Maulana Ajmal, who is a leader with 13 MLAs in Assam Assembly and 3 MPs in the national Parliament, including himself, expressed his disappointment just after a few hours following the publication of the complete NRC draft on 30 July. He said, “40 lakh people who are left out of the complete draft is a big big figure, and there might have been something wrong somewhere in the system”. He showed his concerns as how this big number of poor and people with less means would run again and again to claim or put objections to register their names in the final list. “There might be a conspiracy in deregistering this huge chunk of names from minority concentrated districts to reduce Muslim representations in politics,” Maulana Ajmal observed at a press conference in Guwahati on 30 July evening.
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