Modi’s move to eject Muslims from Assam

The final Assam citizens’ list – intended to identify legal residents and weed out illegal immigrants from the state – is out, leaving out more than 1.9 million people. NRC State Coordinator’s office said in a statement that names of 3.1million applicants were included in the final NRC. The status of both inclusion and exclusion can be viewed online in the NRC website which shows: “A total of 3,11,21,004 persons found eligible for inclusion in final NRC leaving out 19,06,657 persons including those who did not submit their claims. Those not satisfied with outcome can file appeal before Foreigners Tribunals,” Prateek Hajela, State Coordinator, NRC, was quoted as saying. In August 2018, the controversy on preparing a registry of bonafide citizens of Assam on the basis of legal documents was further fuelled by Home Minister Amit Shah who described illegal Bangladesh immigrants as termites eating into Indian resources.
Assam has long seen large influxes from elsewhere, including under British colonial rule and around Bangladesh´s 1971 civil war when millions fled into India. For decades this has made Assam a hotbed of inter-religious and ethnic tensions, adding to pressure for a lasting solution. Sporadic violence included the 1983 massacre of around 2,000 people. Security was beefed up in Assam ahead of the release of the NRC, with some 20,000 extra personnel brought in and gatherings banned in some locations. Only those who can demonstrate that they or their forbearers were in India before 1971 could be included in the list. But navigating the complex process is a huge challenge for many in a region of high illiteracy where many lack documentation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party runs Assam – and critics say the NRC process reflects the BJP´s goal to serve Hindus only.
Those left off the NRC have 120 days to appeal at special Foreigners Tribunals, which the government says are being expanded in number. But activists say that tribunal members are often under-qualified and that the process has been riddled with inconsistencies and errors. In January 2019, India´s lower house passed legislation to grant citizenship to people who moved to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan as recently as six years ago – as long as they are not Muslims. This had stoked fears among India´s 170-million Muslim minority for their future. On August 5 New Delhi suspended the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir. The Muslim-majority region is currently in its fourth week of a near-total communications blackout. With the abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution, 10 states other than Jammu and Kashmir which enjoy special category status have started distrusting the Indian government, say political analysts.
These are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. Arvind Kumar, assistant professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Jamia Millia Islamia, said: “This (abrogation) might serve as a template for other special category states. Neera Chandhoke, a former professor of political science at Delhi University, said: “This might set a precedent but Kashmir has been a priority for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Never before, a state has been downgraded. You don’t do this in a democracy. You don’t go to war against your own apeople. One can’t have a military solution to a political situation”. Today, India stands exposed for its human rights violations and maltreatment of the minorities, and international media also criticizes India for abandoning the secularism promised by the founding fathers of India.