A total of 40.07 lakh people were not on Assam's draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on Monday, sparking widespread fear of mass detentions across the border state. But the government ruled out any coercive action till the document was finalised, based on administrative reviews and court appeals.
The NRC is mandated to include only those who can prove they were in Assam before March 24, 1971, when millions fled Bangladesh's war of independence into the state.
A total of 3.29 crore people had applied and submitted documents to be included on the Supreme-Court mandated list that was released by the Registrar General of India, Shailesh, in Guwahati. A total of 2.89 crore have been found eligible.
He did not provide a break-down of people who failed to make to the draft list. But they will be able to resubmit documents between August 30 and September 28. Even this window can be extended by a month. They will then have the option to appeal at foreigners' tribunals.
A final NRC is likely to be ready in December after claims and objections are settled and subsequent cases are disposed of at the tribunals.
"It's not a final list. No coercive action will be taken against anyone. There is no need to panic," Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Delhi. His Ministry's officials said nobody would be held or sent to detention camps based on the draft list.
Assam is the only state to have an NRC that has been updated for the first time since 1951, to weed out illegal immigrants. Tight security was in place across the tea-rich state, as thousands of anxious people queued at government booths to check their names on the NRC.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also said no one would be sent to any detention camp over the draft list. To a question whether these people will be eligible to vote in next year's general elections, a Home Ministry official said, "The Election Commission will decide." Some well-known people are missing from the list, probably because there were some mistakes in the application or documents were missing, he said.
The influx of Bangladeshis had led to a massive violent agitation in Assam between 1979 and 1985, demanding the ouster of illegal immigrants. It was driven by fears that Assamese land was being given out to "illegal Bangladeshis".
A peace accord was signed with the Central government on August 15, 1985, to start a process for the identification of illegal immigrants in the state.
But successive governments failed to determine the exact number of foreigners in the state. In 2004, the then Deputy Home Minister in the UPA government, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, said in Parliament that there were five million Bangladeshis in Assam. He later withdrew his statement because he could not back it up.
A decision to update the NRC was taken in 2005 with the signing of a tripartite agreement among the Assam government, the Central government, and All Assam Students Union. The Supreme Court directed in 2014 that the NRC be updated.
In 2016, the NDA government informed Parliament that there were 20 million Bangladeshi immigrants staying illegally in India. It is estimated that there are more than two million Muslims in Assam who trace their roots to Bangladesh.
After several delays and extensions, the state government published the first part of the draft NRC during the intervening night of December 31 and January. It had given Indian citizenship to only 1.9 crore people then, leading to widespread apprehensions.
On July 2, the Supreme Court extended its June 30 deadline for publication of the final draft of the NRC by a month because of floods in the state.
NO COERCIVE ACTION, FOR NOW
- Nobody will be held or sent to detention camps based on the draft list.
- Those whose names are missing will be able to resubmit documents between August 30 and September 28.
- Even this window can be extended by a month.
- They will then have the option to appeal at foreigners’ tribunals.
- A final NRC is likely to be ready in December after claims and objections are settled and subsequent cases are disposed of at tribunals.
- Will these 40 lakh people be eligible to vote in next year’s general elections? Home Ministry says the Election Commission will decide.
Surprise Exclusions
Mohd Azmal Hoque, who was told in September to appear before a foreigners’ tribunal and prove that he was an Indian, did not find his name in the draft NRC. He had got the notice a year after his retirement from the Army.
Shafi Uddin Ahmed, a 36-year-old school teacher and well-known poet of Kayakuchi area in Assam’s Barpeta district, could not find his name. His two siblings have also been excluded . His great grandfather, late Pahar Khan, was an MLA from Tarabari.
The Timeline
- Influx of Bangladeshis led to a massive agitation in Assam between 1979 and 1985.
- A peace accord was signed in 1985, to identify illegal immigrants.
- A decision to update the NRC was taken in 2005. It was last updated in 1951.
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