Assam is not Rakhine
THE Indian state of Assam is engaged in the process of creating a database of its citizens. It is going beyond the demographic details that were available in the national census report to make use of. No other state of the Indian Union is undertaking such an exercise, and that's where the catch is.
Nevertheless, it is an internal affair of India, and is being done at the direction and under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India. With due deference to it, we feel obliged to say—being cognisant of the extensive and intensive bilateral relationship—that the initiative should not impact negatively on Indo-Bangladesh ties.
A Bangla daily in Dhaka has, however, carried the news under the title "After Myanmar, tension in Assam now." There is a contextual difference between the situation in Myanmar and that in India or Assam; however, a concern is being flagged about the perceived approach to Muslim Bangladeshi identity. For even the refugees from Rakhine who had trekked across to India were sought to be pushed by the Indian authorities into Bangladesh under the claim that they had illegally entered from Bangladesh itself. With the BGB resisting, the other side relented—thankfully.
The point to emphasise at this stage is: We need not jump to conclusion till the process which is purportedly launched to identify the allegedly intruding Bangladeshis into the Assamese population is completed. And it is followed up by any attempt to push back those labelled as "foreigners" into Bangladesh.
The first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) released by the government of Assam on December 31 did a listing of 1.9 crore citizens. In total, some 3.29 crore had applied for inclusion in the NRC. According to a court verdict, the deadline for submission of a database was set for December 31; so at this stage an ad interim report has been filed with the remaining 1.39 crore to be verified and the "eligibles" fed into the database by February 20. That is when the final hearing in the case before the Supreme Court regarding citizenship listing will have been held.
The initial list created a stir when many genuine citizens including prominent Muslims and Hindus were left out. It is believed that the final list will be inclusive.
At the end, the apprehensions being harboured in the influential All Assam Students Union about local Assamese becoming cornered and outnumbered by the Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants need to be allayed.
Leaders of the incumbent BJP state government are crying hoarse on the prospect of deporting those who would fail to prove residency benchmarked to 1951 and pre-March 25, 1971. But politicians of different hues are skeptical about the ability of many inhabitants to produce proof and papers to legitimise their claims in the face of stiff demands.
With India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coming to power for the first time in the state neighbouring Bangladesh, it has set about acting on the election campaign time refrain to deport what it termed "illegal Bangladeshis" bar the Hindus who are welcome. The open arm embrace to Hindus is predicated on their alleged suffering in Bangladesh.
The BJP state government has been playing into the politically contentious issue in the northeastern Indian state to bolster its newfound political capital. In the process, the secularist credentials of India as enshrined in its Constitution are in greater jeopardy than before.
Bangladesh has officially made it abundantly clear—in light of her consistent economic growth—that there hasn't been any reason for its citizens to go to Assam to settle in. This position is corroborated by the former state chief minister and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi who lately emphasised to the press that "there is not a single Bangladeshi in Assam." Congress takes the view that in the name of identifying "foreigners" the BJP is oppressing the minorities.
Shah Husain Imam is adjunct faculty at East West University, a commentator in current affairs, and former associate editor at The Daily Star.
Email: shahhusainimam@gmail.com