On The Question of National Register of Citizens, or NRC
The publication of second and final draft of National Citizens' Register or NRC of Assam on 31st July has prompted opposite reactions from different sections of people. Whereas, AASU and the Assamese people in general have welcomed the NRC, it has created discontentment among some other sections of people, and also aroused protests from them. It's not quite true, as it has been alleged by some people, that the NRC is brain-child of BJP-RSS combine. Definitely, BJP-RSS combine are using it for their own malicious intent, but that is a different question to which we shall come later. Actually, the process of revising of NRC had been taken up in 2005 on the basis of a tri-partite agreement between Central Government, State government of Assam, both then led by Congress and All Assam Students' Union (AASU), to implement the clause of the Assam accord, which decided to determine and evict all illegal immigrants who entered Assam on and after 25th March, 1971, (the day on which the Bangladesh war started).
The issue of immigration from Bangladesh or this region before and after the formation of Bangladesh has been a matter of discord for a long time. In the British period, Bengali Muslims from Mymensingh of Undivided Bengal immigrated to Assam and settled in the Char regions of Brahmaputra River. Chars are river islands along the Brahmaputra's course from Sadiya in the east to Dhuburi in the west. Bengali Muslims were encouraged by the British ruler to cultivate in these chars. As the British rulers started their colonial rule from Bengal, the educated Bengali middle class was their main employees. These Bengali people, mainly Hindu, also settled in many areas of Assam and occupied the important posts in administration, judiciary, education and health. ?By the beginning of the twentieth century, practically all of Assam's doctors, lawyers, teachers, and journalists, as well as railway and post office workers were Bengali Hindu migrants?. In fact, in the British period, for some years, Assam was part of Bengal. Even when it was not part of Bengal, Bengalis continued to be a significant portion of the population of Assam. Certainly one reason was that the Bengali inhabited Sylhet district was merged with Assam. However, in the other districts of Brahmaputra valley also, Bengalis constituted a significant portion of population. A portion of Sylhet district was merged with Assam after partition in 1947, which is now known as Barak valley, which is inhabited by Bengalis. Even the state language was Bengali, as late as 1960, when under the pressure of movement of Assamese people it was changed to Assamese, but Bengali continued in Barak valley after justified protests from Bengali there. It cannot be denied that, there had been a national oppression and domination of Bengali nationalism over Assamese nationality and other nationalities of Assam. This created a long standing and deep rooted grievance among Assamese people in general against Bengali nationalism. Though the Assamese middle class in the main occupied the dominant position and the domination of Bengalis subsided in later years, the Assamese people generally nurse anti-Bengali feelings due to this history. The issue of immigration or so-called illegal immigration must be viewed in this perspective.
It is beyond doubt that there has been migration of Bengali people, both Hindu and Muslim, from Bangladesh, or erstwhile East Pakistan before the formation of Bangladesh. After the British left India, the Bengali people came from this region mainly in two periods, one after the partition of India in 1947 and one after the declaration of Bangladesh war. It is also true that during other periods, migration continued, but definitely on a much lower scale. The migrants in West Bengal in the main amalgamated with the local people, both being of same nationalities. However, in Assam it created a fear among the Assamese and other local, indigenous people of getting swamped by the Bengali migrants. After the failure of potential revolutionary upsurge of later part of sixties of last century, in the seventies and eighties we had seen upswing of national movements in almost all states of India. In Assam also, in the period of 1978-1985, there had been a mass national movement against foreigners' problem. The whole of Assam erupted in a mass upsurge demanding eviction of foreigners (mainly Bengali Hindu and Muslims, who entered Assam after 1951). Though there had been sectarian and communal conflicts, especially during 1983 election, which was forced upon Assamese people, it was a national movement of Assamese and other indigenous people. There fear of being minority in their homeland was accentuated by the long standing grievance against Bengali domination. The movement ended in 1985 with the Assam Accord, where it was decided that all immigrants who entered from Bangladesh on and after 25 the March will be identified and deported. (However, contrary to some reports, no mention of national register of citizens was made in the accord).(Source: Assam Accord, https://assam.gov.in/documents/1631171/0/Annexure_10.pdf?version=1.0, accessed on 15th August, 2018.)
None of the state governments elected afterwards, including the AGP governments led by the leaders of the Assam movement, seriously implemented that clause of Assam accord and so, the issue of illegal immigration continued to haunt the politics of Assam throughout next decades. In 2005, the above-mentioned agreement on NRC was signed which started the process of updating the National Register of Citizens of Assam, originally prepared in 1951. After that, in consequence of some litigation, the Supreme Court issued an order to accelerate the process and complete the updating of NRC. In this period, the Supreme Court directly supervised the process. It is now a well-known fact that in the final draft of NRC, names of about 40 lakh people of the 3.29 crores of applicants have been omitted.
It has been reported in both the vernacular and national media that many people who came to Assam long before 1971 are among these 40 lakh people. There are even instances of omission of indigenous people. It is very much probable that many people, especially from poor sections, will find it difficult to produce such old documents, especially in Assam, where flood is an annual event and devastates and displaces quite a huge number of people on a regular basis. Though the Governments have assured that names of all indigenous and also of immigrants who have come before 1971, the people whose name have not figured in the draft are going through a harrowing time. Any governmental activities in our country cannot happen without bureaucratic hassles and in the present case, the process is being carried out with anti-Bengali and communal leanings. So, it is natural the Bengali Hindus and particularly the Muslims, considering recent communalization of polity and also society in general, and especially the poor sections among all these communities are being harassed. The process itself is very much anti-immigrant and anti-people, because the task of proving the validity of their citizenship rest on them and not the state. Moreover, the thought of being uprooted from these country and thrown into an uncertain future has made their lives miserable.
The BJP-RSS has taken the issue of NRC as an opportunity to communalise Assam and the rest of India, particularly, the eastern Indian states like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand etc. For a long time, the Sangh Parivar is raking up the problem of immigration from Bangladesh to further their communal agenda. To achieve their end, they are trying to project this immigration as only of Bengali Muslims. They are propagating basically two false propaganda in Goebbelsian fashion. Firstly, they are saying that only or mainly the Muslims are coming from Bangladesh, not the Hindus. This is completely false. Rather, the Hindus are coming to settle here, not the Muslims. The Muslim people are coming here in search of work and a section of them are going back after certain time. Secondly, they are telling that the Muslims are coming here to carry out terrorist activities. This is also false. The Bengali Muslims who are coming here are basically poor people in search for work. Thirdly, in absence of any valid data, they are inflating the numbers of immigrants.
In Assam, a considerable section, if not the majority of people who came after 1971 are Bengali Hindus. BJP has a large following among these people. To protect them and to include them in NRC, BJP tried to bring in an amendment of Citizens Act, 1955, namely the citizenship (amendment) bill, 2016. This amendment seeks to ?make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.? This act of BJP-RSS is totally against the idea of nation-state and another ploy to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra. The movement of Assamese people was against foreign national, mainly implying Bengalis from Bangladesh, not of any particular religion. Rather, as the Bengali Hindus mainly dominated Assamese people nationally and culturally, they also feel strongly against them. The citizenship amendment bill will effectively nullify their original aim regarding NRC. So, AASU, AGP and Assamese people in general vehemently protested against the bill. Due to their protest, the Central Government has temporarily withdrawn it. Though they have been forced to withhold their move under the widespread protests from AASU and people of Assam, we should make no mistake in assuming that they have not abandoned their nefarious idea, and will search newer ways to bring in the bill surreptitiously. BJP is now crying hoarse for NRC in West Bengal, and some other eastern states, targeting only Bengali Muslims as ?infiltrators'.
Now, even if we take for arguments' sake that the names of all valid citizens according to the Assam accord will be in NRC, what will happen to the rest? Where will those people go, who have been once forced to leave their original home, may be due to religious persecution, may be due to devastations of war or may be due to poverty and for decades have made this country their own? Where will those people go, who were born and brought up this country for many years? Will they be again made refugees? It is being heard that already some detention camp has been constructed and some other are being constructed. Is not that completely inhuman? So, while we should understand and consider the feeling of national oppression of Assamese people and their fear of becoming minority in their homeland, at the same time we also cannot ignore the plight of the Bengali immigrants, irrespective of their religion and cannot support their eviction from this country. We also cannot support that they be put in detention camps like slaves.
The communist revolutionaries should champion the unity of the proletariat, irrespective of nationalities and work towards building up of a truly democratic India, where people of all nationalities will be able to live on the basis of complete equality of rights of all nationalities, with rights of nations to self-determination, i.e., right to secede. Only that kind of state can get rid of all types of national oppression.
Regarding the fear and anxiety of indigenous people about the immigration, legal or illegal, we can only say that this is a problem created by the capitalism but it has no power to solve it. On the one hand the capitalism has created a condition where flow of people is continuously happening across the borders. The people from comparatively underdeveloped countries are continuously migrating to developed countries for better livelihood. But, the capitalism cannot erase the borders of nation state it has created and thereby creating conflicts between the nationalities. Nature has given the human society enough resources, which can be used for production to cater to the needs of all its members. But, like all other class-divided societies, capitalism, on the one hand are creating conditions for unequal distribution of the produces where the producers are deprived of the fruits of their labour, and on the other hand are obstructing the unhindered development of forces of production, and thus forcing immense majority of people to live in utter poverty. The proletariat is the only force who can get rid of capitalism and imperialism, and create a society where people of all nationalities will be able to live with complete equality of rights.
However, though that will only bring permanent and lasting solution of this problem, any immediate solution of the problem may be arrived at by the contending parties to resolve the present problem, albeit temporarily which will help to maintain a congenial atmosphere between people of different communities which is necessary for the development of class struggle. However, whatever that immediate solution be arrived at, that should be accepted by all the contending parties.
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