There was so much tension in the air prior to the release of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30 in Assam. But the fear of an outbreak of law and order seems misplaced because nothing of the sort happened although those who found their names missing from the list continue to have heartburns but are told they can repeat the process of inclusion by providing the requisite documents.
The NRC excluded 40 lakh people who constitute more than 10%of the state’s population, from citizenships. Earlier Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that those excluded not be treated as foreigners but the NRC report has created panic in the state. The issue of immigration has plagued Assam since 1947 and especially immigration from Bangladesh. But the “Bangladesh” movement targeted Bengali speaking citizens fuelling narrow provincialism. The AASU spear-headed the xenophobic agitation which turned to violence. The Assam Accord of 1985 promised to heal the wound. But the documents had been in disarray. More than 50% of Assam’s population were left out of the first document of the NRC and legal citizens were up against it to prove their credentials.
The plantation economy of Assam during the British rule led to a huge influx of migrant labour particularly from Chota Nagpur. Migration continued after independence. That created ethnic, cultural and religious disharmony. Then arose the Hindu-Muslim divide among immigrants. A fair number of Muslim immigrants enter Assam illegally. But the authorities winked at it with an eye on the vote bank. But BJP Government has done nothing about it either. The Supreme Court has not helped but aggravated the crisis. No orderly mechanism has been put in place to help those excluded from the NRC list. The Home Minister in Delhi has assured that the 10% lately excluded will be given an opportunity to fight their case.
Meanwhile the national media has given several spins to the case perhaps because they expected adverse reactions and perhaps even violence after the publication of the final NRC draft. The fact that life went on as usual was a bit of a dampener for a breathless media on the lookout for breaking news. Many in Assam detest this unnecessary anxiety created by media spin doctors. This is a good example of people rising above the need to make news over a sensitive issue. The people of Assam must be appreciated for their maturity in dealing with a delicate issue that had in the past caused its share of agony and bloodshed.