Around
13mn people living in Assam have been left off a controversial draft
list of citizens released yesterday by authorities, who are under
pressure to identify and expel illegal immigrants.
Assam has long
struggled to curb immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh and is the
only Indian state to compile a register of citizens.
The National
Register of Citizens (NRC) includes only 19mn of the state’s more than
32mn residents. It was prepared on the orders of the Supreme Court,
which is hearing a series of claims to Indian citizenship from
undocumented residents of the state.
But there are also concerns the
Assam government, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), could use the issue to target
the state’s Muslim minority.
Political leaders have vowed to deport
anyone staying in the state illegally, although it is far from clear
that Bangladesh would accept them.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda
Sonowal on Sunday sought to reassure anyone left off the draft list,
saying every “bona fide Indian citizen” would eventually be included.
The
BJP won elections in the state in 2016 after promising to root out
illegal immigrants and protect the rights of indigenous groups.
Migrants
have long been accused of illegally entering the state from Bangladesh
and taking land, causing tensions with local people and sporadic
outbreaks of communal violence.
Anyone living in Assam must now prove
that their forebears appeared either in the state’s only previous
register of citizens, compiled in 1951, or on any electoral roll
published before March 1971 to be eligible for citizenship.
With millions anxious about their fate, the government strengthened security across the state before releasing the list.
Upamanyu
Hazarika, a senior lawyer who has campaigned against illegal
immigration in the state, said the process of acquiring citizenship had
been dogged by corruption.
“The Supreme Court will also have to
address the complicated fate of children born to Bangladeshi illegals on
Indian soil after 1971,” he added.
The publication of the list
evoked a mixed response across the state while there are reports that
one person in the state’s Silchar allegedly committed suicide after not
finding his name.
Making the announcement at a press conference, the
registrar general of India, Sailesh said the names of the rest of the
people are at various stages of verification.
The status of inclusion
of names can be checked in the websites -- www.nrcassam.nic.in,
www.assam.gov.in, www.assam.mygov.in and
www.homeandpolitical.assam.gov.in, the Office of the State Coordinator
of National Registration (NRC) posted on its official Twitter page.
Sailesh
said the complete NRC will be published within 2018, adding that the
first publication is only the part draft and that there is no need to
worry if anyone’s name has not been included in it.
“It only means that his or her name is at some stage of verification,” he said.
In
Cachar, police said that Hanif Khan’s body was found hanging in the
backyard of his house. “Locals said Khan got afraid after his name was
not found in the NRC and took the extreme step. However, we are trying
to ascertain if there is some other reasons behind his decision,” said a
police officer.
People stand in line to check their names on the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Gumi village of Kamrup district in Assam yesterday.