2019-08-03_Outlook

5 August 2019 OUTLOOK 11

heavy flooding, there are many like
Rahman battling nature’s fury with
NRC on their minds. There are mixed
feelings over the mammoth exercise,
first envisaged in the 1985 Assam
Accord that marked the culmination of
the six­year­long anti­foreigner move­
ment in the state.
Human rights activists and opposi­
tion parties see the NRC update as an
alleged attempt by the BJP­led govern­
ment at the Centre and the state to
target the Muslim community. The
government says the exercise will help
it identify und o cumented migrants
and facilitate their possible deporta­
tion later.
While extending the deadline by a
month, the top court, however,
turned down “fervent” pleas by
both the Centre and state for
“sample reverification” of some
names inc luded in and excluded
from the draft NRC. The peti­
tions said that sample reverifica­
tion had become necessary to
quell “growing perception” that
lakhs of “illegal immigrants” may
have infiltrated the list, espe­
cially in districts bordering
Bangladesh. Rights activists had
earlier expressed apprehension
that the plea for “reverification”
was aimed at systematically
striking out names of Muslims.

F

OR many in the state, however, the

NRC is the “best available means” to

end a longstanding impasse over

ill egal migration, especially from

Bangladesh, an issue that had domi­

nated headlines in Assam for decades

and div ided society along religious and

linguistic lines. Rajibul Islam, a busi­

nessman from Barpeta, for one, is

hopeful that the final NRC draft will

end the harassment and racial taunts

his community members have faced for

long. “Many a time, bec ause of the dress

we wear or the beards some keep, we

had to face derogatory rem arks. Many

would abuse us as Bangladeshi or Miya.

I hope once the final NRC list is pub­

lished, we can live here with dignity,”

says Islam, whose family has been inc­

luded in the draft NRC.

After the NRC is published, the people

who do not find their names on the list

will have the option of approaching a

foreigners tribunal—a quasi­judicial

agency exclusive to Assam—the high

court and finally the Supreme Court to

prove their citizenship. Though the

Centre has maintained that the “illegal

immigrants” have to leave India, it is

still unclear how or where the govern­

ment will deport these people. Bangla­

desh denies any “large­scale migration”

to India.

As of now, Assam has six detention

centres which are home to around 1,

people who have been declared illegal

citizens by the courts, besides some

Bangladeshi and Myanmarese nation­

als who have been arrested for entering

India without valid travel documents or

for overstaying the visa.

Some people, who are waiting for the

final date of publication of the NRC list,

fear that they will be sent to a detention

centre. For Sakila Khatun, whose name

along with her two sons is missing from

the draft NRC, the only hope in her life

is to see their names on the final list. “I

have no dream, I don’t need anything...

just that our names are in the list...then

I will be the happiest person,” Sakila

says. “We are uneducated and poor

people, so everyone tries to take advan­

tage of our helplessness. I was told that

my name was tagged as D (doubtful) so

I will not be able to get a health card. But

I have no regret. I don’t need anything

but the names on the list,” she adds.

Sakila says advocates and other govern­

ment officials would ask for money

every time they go for some work.

“We can’t meet their demands. Even an

affidavit costs around Rs 5,000. So, we

need to send our kids to work in

Guwahati or other places so that they

can earn some money and pay for these

expenses,” she says, adding that son

Shahadat Ali, who is barely 15, is work­

ing in a construction site in the state’s

capital city.

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha, an

association representing the Nepalese

community, suggested that the home

ministry and Election Commission

should adopt a mechanism to solve the

doubtful voters’ issue for a fair NRC.

The national secretary of the org­

anisation, Nanda Kirati Dewan,

says that Manju Devi, the great

granddaughter of freedom figh­

ter Chabilal Upadhyay, the foun­

der of the Congress in Assam, has

also been left out from the NRC

draft despite having proven her

parental lineage. “She was told

during the last draft that she had

been marked D in 2005 so her

NRC claim has been rej ected

along with her sons and daugh­

ters,” he says, adding that even

the name of Sahitya Akademi

awardee and president of Assam

Nepali Sahitya Sabha, Durga

Khatiwada, was struck off the NRC

draft last month. “Khatiwada holds the

1951 NRC of his father as legacy.

Although all his family members’ names

have been included, he himself is sur­

prised about his exclusion. These are

the issues which needed proper att­

ention,” says Nanda.

Back in Alikakh char, Habibur and his

family members are now perched on an

embankment after floodwaters sub­

merged everything around them from

the second week of July. When they

were darting from to their house to a

temporary flood shelter, it’s the official

documents which were the first to be

packed. “We try to keep these safe. See,

even after having these papers and

documents we have been kept out of the

list. Can you imagine what would have

been our plight without these papers?”

asks Habibur, a farm hand.

For many in Assam, a few pieces of

paper are worth their weight in gold.

Like priceless family heirloom that can

never be parted with. O

For many, the NRC is the

“best available means”

to end a longstanding

impasse over illegal

immigration, especially

from Bangladesh

SANDIPAN CHATTERJEE