Citizen or Illegal? The Human Cost of India's NRC

Matia Transit Camp became operational as of January 2023, India’s largest detention center in the Goalpara District of Assam, it is made on 2.5 hectare land and consists of facilities to hold nearly 3000 Foreigner’s or illegal immigrants. Some of the “declared foreigners” out of the 1.9 million excluded from the NRC in Assam have already been imprisoned in the camp, including 21 women and 2 children. NRC ( National Register of Citizens) is a list consisting of Indians and is going to approve people who are bona fide Indian Citizens, while those being excluded from this list or failing to enlist in the register will be deemed illegal or “declared foreigners”. The criteria to be included in the list in Assam is not linked to a population census but to have at least one family member who appeared in the 1951 NRC in Assam or to be in the state’s electoral roll before 1971 March 24 midnight. The Government of India plans to implement this throughout the country. Imagine being born and raised in India, or serving in the Indian army only to find yourself suddenly labeled as an 'alien' This is the reality for Palash Adhikari and his family, who spent 10 months in prison and Mohammad Sana Ullah who served in the Indian army for 30 years has been sent to a detention center. The gravity of the problem could be assessed by thefact that among the excluded are family members of the former President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. These along with the 1.9 million excluded from the NRC have similar stories and concerns.

Background

As the clock struck midnight on 14 August 1947, two nations were born in the Indian subcontinent. The Radcliffe line divided two of the largest provinces of the British Raj, Punjab and Bengal. Freedom came to these two groups at the cost of losing their homes and rushing to the other side to avoid falling prey to a worser fate of death leading to one of the largest displacement and refugee crises during its time. Unplanned migration, mass riots and disease led to severe complications on both sides, in addition to the ever growing refugee camps and sprawling slums across Bengal. Refugees from East Bengal poured into the neighboring states of India in multiple periods, almost 3 million in the immediate aftermath and another 11.1 million till 1971 after waves of violence on the other side. The Indian Government setup border inspection who conducted a brief interview and assessment for the incoming refugees. If the individuals had satisfactory claims of fresh arrival, they were issued an interception slip which gave them the status of refugee. This continued and a new system of receiving migration certificates started in Bangladesh’s Indian Embassy after 1952. These documents were enough at that time for the Bengalis to cross over to escape persecution and to cross the line which they had never wanted.

Problems & Impact of NRC & CAA

Citizenship is a marker which ensures an individual gets certain formal, legal rights and protection by the state as a member of the country. It gives a sense of belonging and freedom with certain responsibilities to uphold as the citizen of the country. These rights and freedom are not extended to “aliens” or non-citizens living in the country. With citizenship debates heating up globally, what’s happening through the NRC should be on everyone’s radar. The documents which helped the refugees attain the rights of being an Indian citizen are under threat. In an already document poor country this has become an extremely difficult challenge. Xenophobia against the perceived infiltrators has already led to several instances of violence against marginalized Bengali communities in Assam and across the country. NRC as an act is punitive in nature, where it is clear that the process is the punishment. Malcolm Feeley, a public law professor and author popularized this term “process is the punishment” to show functioning of the lower court and its impact on ordinary citizens as being harsh and punishing. The process itself is usually undermined and constantly delayed while trying to disguise it under equality, liberty and impartiality. It is also increasingly apparent that NRC & CAA intend to “weaponise citizenship”, by using it as a tool to coerce or exclude individual’s democratic rights. The punitive gap in the process of selecting which members to exclude has been targeted towards the Bengalis who are perceived as non-indigenous. While being excluded from NRC does not mean you are a foreign national, since only the Foreigners’ tribunal can declare it,. A report from LokSabha shows that 140,050 cases are pending between 2016-2020 and the gap is only increasing as 1.9 million claimants now would have to appeal. If the slow legal process of the autonomous tribunals is any testimony to the justice, the fates of these people are now left in limbo. Additionally, othering of marginal communities and populations which have historically been a part of regions in Assam such as the Cachar district is detrimental to the harmony of the communities living there. Citizenship governance in the region along with the nation needs to be facilitated to become a fair process, instead of a regressive and oppressive one which weakens the civil rights of socio economically backward communities and deepens the inequities faced by
them in the country. It also would lead to a large-scale statelessness crisis which would further exacerbate the declining relations with our neighboring country Bangladesh. This would also hamper our international branding as a proponent of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”(the world is one family).

Alternative to NRC & CAA

Using a rigid documentary system to prove their citizenship is again immensely hard in a nation with poor documentation of its citizens. Moreover, the suspicion that documents can be forged has also acted as a double edged sword as authorities use excessive scrutiny in judging these documents. A line which divided the fate of the Bengali people in India, and such punitive measures is a constant reminder of their statelessness. A fairer and more accountable approach can definitely address the issue of illegal immigration, but currently these populist laws act as a threat to the survival of about 20 million who are descendants of the people who came to India from the otherside of British India. India is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee Convention nor the 1967 protocols for refugees. This leads to a bureaucratic problem as the government does not know how to classify the different people’s living in India as refugees and to the issues in Northeast and other regions. In addition to the absence of these UN frameworks, India also lacks a national convention for the treatment of its refugees. While India hosts numerous refugees particularly from Tibet, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, they have to register with the UNHRC. We need to design a policy such as “temporary protection status(TPS)” like the Colombian government created for the Venezuelan refugees arriving in their country due to the high distress due to economic difficulty. This grants a refugee or a migrant 10 years of legal protection and authority to work in the country. Which also allows them to integrate into the society and they can apply for citizenship later on. This would not only help the people excluded from the NRC, but also several other refugee groups in the country to receive legal and work protection. In the meantime, the government can reframe its citizenship and refugee policy to whether to include or exclude them. It will also make it possible for several marginalized or persecuted groups like Tibetian, Bengali or Punjabi people to migrate out of these places or to integrate in the places they have settled. Additionally, the government can also design specialized zones in West Bengal, Tripura or other states, out of the state of Assam since they might not be perceived as much of a threat there. This was partially successful in the exchange between Turks in Greece and Greeks in Turkey, where both the governments set up special zones for the refugees to settle in. While this was done in India too for the earlier refugees from West and East Pakistan, it can be done as an interstate initiative to reach an equitable solution.