NRC 1st draft to be out after midnight: How it impacts Assam explained

Business Standard explains the whole issue around illegal immigrants, the history of the NRC and the ambiguity surrounding the first draft of the NRC

The first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam, aimed at identifying illegal migrants will be released on Sunday, December 31, after the Supreme Court rejected the Centre's plea for an extension of the deadline until July 31, 2018. The office of the State Coordinator, NRC, will now be required to publish the first draft after midnight on December 31, 2017. However, the issue of deportation comes under a separate jurisdiction.

Business Standard explains the whole issue around illegal immigrants, the history of the NRC in Assam and the ambiguity surrounding the first draft of the NRC: 

Brief history

Assam had seen illegal immigration since being made part of British India. But there was a significant increase in the flow of illegal migrants during the East Bengal independence movement, with refugees fleeing amid Pakistan's severe occupation. Even after the formation of Bangladesh, infiltration continued; now for better economic pastures in India.

The Assam Agitation

Against this backdrop, the Assam Agitation, a popular movement against illegal immigrants in the state, also took place from 1979 to 1985. Led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), the movement saw protests and demonstrations demanding that the government identify and expel illegal immigrants. The agitation leaders later formed a political party, Assam Gana Parishad (AGP), at present part of the state's ruling alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Assam Accord

The agitation ended in August 1985 with the signing of the Assam Accord by leaders of AASU-AAGSP and the Government of India. According to the accord, all foreigners who had entered Assam between 1951 and 1961 would be given full citizenship, including the right to vote. However, those who had done so after 1971 were to be deported. The immigrants who came between 1961 and 1971 were to be denied voting rights for 10 years but given all other rights of a citizenship.

The NRC base year

The base year of 1971 being considered for the NRC has its roots in the movement. As specified on the official website, the NRC is now going to be updated to include those persons (or their descendants) whose names appeared in the NRC, 1951, or in any of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of March 24, 1971, or in any one of the other admissible documents issued up to midnight of March 24, 1971. This is supposed to prove their presence in Assam or in any other part of India on or before March 24, 1971. However, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which the ruling BJP espouses, might push the base year further to 2014 under special cases. 

The recent NRC developments

* The Supreme Court did not accept Attorney General K K Venugopal's submission that part-publication of the draft NRC could result in a law-and-order situation, with a large segment of the people finding out that their names have been excluded from the draft.

"We do not see how the aforesaid situation can even remotely arise as we have already indicated in the earlier part of the present order that claims of 4.7 million persons and 2.9 million persons are still pending and would be subject to verification and covered by publication of another draft NRC at a subsequent point of time," the Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman, said in an order on November 30, 2017.

The court slammed the request for more time, saying: "It is the sheer inaction on the part of the executive in dragging the matter for a period of over three years and the absence of any justifiable cause to hold back even a partial publication that has led the Court to direct publication of the draft NRC on or before December 31, 2017."

* The issue of security was raised by the Centre and the Attorney General since the draft might lead to the exclusion of certain groups of people, and thereby a major backlash. Taking stock of the situation, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a series of high-level meetings with the Assam government and its law enforcing agencies.

* The SC set aside the order of the Gauhati High Court by which it had invalidated certificates issued by Gram panchayat (GP) or executive magistrates. Now, only the documents issued after conducting proper enquiries can be used as an identity document for claiming citizenship.

* The Supreme Court pulled up the Assam government for making a "sweeping statement" that 15 per cent of the state population comprised tribals who had not participated in modernisation and were away from the mainstream, according to a Press Trust of India report. Many outfits also addressed the issue of a lack of documentation of ethnic people, especially tribals.

* For the people excluded in the first draft, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI: "No one should have any apprehensions. If the name of a genuine Indian citizen is missing in the part draft of the NRC, he or she will get proper chance to incorporate it." Speaking on the matter, NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela told the Assam Tribune: "As we are now publishing the first draft, with only the names of persons whose verification process is complete, no one should be worried if their name does not appear in it."

The political game

The BJP, riding on the development model of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power in the state for the first time. However, a big part of its election campaign revolved around the issue of illegal immigration. Accusing the party of delaying its promise, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi recently said: "Narendra Modi had himself promised to make Assam free of illegal Bangladeshi settlers, twice; first in the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, and again in the 2016 Assembly election campaign. Sonowal had gone to the NRC office on the first day of his office, and then this promise was tossed into uncertainty. So, Sonowal should step down, owning moral responsibility for this."

The dual narrative

The political discourse of illegal immigration in Assam has always been carried considering the Assam Accord and the base year of 1971 without any religious categorisation. After the Supreme Court's NRC verdict, the BJP is seen to be at pains to save its Bengali-Hindu vote bank and also carry its agenda for the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016.

Many see the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, as aimed at making India a haven for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians at the risk of persecution in neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The Bill, currently under consideration by a joint parliamentary committee, is expected to be tabled next year. The Bill might push the base year further to 2014 under special cases.

More than the NRC, the political opposition has now shifted to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Replying to queries on the opposition of political parties to the Bill, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Convenor and Assam Finance Minister, BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma, was recently quoted as saying: "We want the Bengali-speaking Hindus to remain with the Assamese people. That is the BJP's viewpoint. It has not changed. It has been the same; both before and after the elections."

Asked whether it was the BJP's policy to differentiate between Hindu and Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, the Indian Express quoted Sarma as saying, "Yes, we do, we clearly do. After all, the country was divided in the name of religion. Thus, it is not a new thing."

This guarantee of safeguarding Hindu Bengali interests was well received in the Barak Valley. Aminul Haque Laskar, the lone minority BJP MLA, told The Sentinel: "Our party's election manifesto has clearly spelt out protection and shelter to all those Hindu Bengalis who have to desert their hearths and homes under repression and oppression in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and forced to take shelter in this country." Laskar was part of a BJP delegation that met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi recently.

However, the AGP has refuted claims of the election manifesto promise. AGP leader Utpal Dutta, speaking to local TV channels, said: "They (BJP) did not show us the election manifesto before elections." He further accused the BJP of a dual narrative in both Brahmaputra Valley, which is the Assamese belt, and Barak Valley, mostly dominated by Sylhetis and Bengalis.

Responding to the allegations, Himanta Biswa Sarma said: "We briefed them during our meetings and answered all their queries."

Recent political developments

The AGP is seen in the middle of a kind of identity crisis. Since the party was born out of the Assam Accord, the Bill threatens its very existence. Former CM of Assam and AGP leader Prafulla Mahanta said: "BJP gave assurance for the Assam Accord but the Citizenship Bill violates the accord by pushing the base year to 2014." Taking a jibe at a seemingly discontented AGP, Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora said: "Doors are open for secular units and those who respect the Assam Accord."

Himanta Biswa Sarma has rejected the AGP-BJP spat as the media's creation and said he is in friendly contact with most of the AGP leaders. However, the writing seems to be clear on the wall that the release of the first draft of the NRC would shape the future course for the BJP-AGP alliance in the state.