DNA Edit: NRC watch – Deporting illegal aliens is easier said than done

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is not as much an internal affair of India, as believed. It also involves India’s good ally Bangladesh and New Delhi will need to watch its step not to offend friends in its immediate neighbourhood. Two weeks after they met in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again assured Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the issue of the NRC in Assam. The Bangladesh Foreign Secretary indicated it diplomatically, when he said that even though it is an internal affair of India, “we will keep our eyes open” to see which way the cookie crumbles. While India can say it wants to deport the 1.9 million people who have been declared non-citizens in Assam, it is far from clear where they will be deported. 

It is one thing for authorities in New Delhi to pre-suppose that the deportation will be to Bangladesh, it is quite another for Dhaka to accept it. Bangladesh has, in fact, not accepted India’s oft-repeated line that there has been any illegal migration from its shores at all. No surprise then that concerns over the NRC were raised by Hasina and Modi explained that it is a legal process that only relates to India 'at present’. So it can be safely assumed that the option of deportation does not even exist on the table. The importance of NRC assumes another dimension. India and Bangladesh failed to conclude a framework agreement to optimise the use of waters from six rivers and no progress was reported on the long-pending Teesta water sharing agreement either, because West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not withdrawn her opposition to the agreement. By the sheerest of coincidences, Mamata too is opposed to the NRC.