A new book seeks to make sense of the citizenship controversy in Assam

A journalist addresses the problematic question of Assam's citizenship controversy from the vantage point of an Assamese but without losing sight of the experiences of other communities

Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty’s Assam: The Accord, The Discord is bookended by lines from some of the most resonant and timeless lyrics of Bhupen Hazarika. One of the two songs is a paean to the universal brotherhood of man; the other a clarion call to the Assamese to safeguard their identity and broaden it by embracing those who have settled newly in the state.

Barooah Pisharoty’s book recapitulates the history behind the recent update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), an outcome of one of the main clauses in the Assam Accord of 1985 — deportation of those who fail