Indian SC’s ‘no’ to ration card will exclude 8m Bangladeshis from Assam’s NRC, says NGO

An NGO engaged in legal fights on citizenship issues in the state of Assam has said the Indian Supreme Court refusing to accept ration card as a valid document for people to get their names in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will lead to exclusion of nearly 8 million 'Bangladeshi citizens'.

Recently, the Gauhati High Court rejected 4800,000 Panchayat documents submitted for the NRC. The court said the residency certificates issued by Gram Panchayat secretaries will no longer be considered a valid link document for the NRC.

The NGO, Assam Public Works (APW), lashed out at the last Congress government in the state, alleging that the cabinet sub-committee formed during its rule conspired to include names of tens of thousands of ‘Bangladeshis’ in the NRC.

However, a few minority organisations of the state are criticising the APW's estimate of 8 million ‘Bangladeshi citizens’. They say that if there really were that many Bangladeshis in the state, why successive governments in the past had not driven them out.

The NRC is being updated in Assam with the Supreme Court monitoring the work. The state government is updating the NRC to identify and make Assam free from illegal Bangladeshi citizens. As such people are required to submit valid documents related to their citizenship to ensure their names are included in the NRC.

The new NRC will include the names of only those people who can submit valid documents related to Indian citizenship prior to Mar 24, 1971.

The issue of illegal Bangladeshi citizens in Assam is as old as it is sensitive. A lot of politics revolves around it although local ethnic organisations are quite serious about the issue.

The APW on Feb 13, 2012 filed a petition in the court to appeal for acceptance of only 10 documents for NRC.

Aabhijeet Sharma, President of APW, said in the appeal to the court that they sought to remove ration cards and Gram Panchayat documents from the list of accepted documents.

The cabinet sub-committee headed by the previous Congress government minister Prithivi Majhi held a discussion with organisations like All Assam Students' Union (AASU), All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) and presented a modality on July 4, 2013.

All Assam Student Union's demonstration. File Photo

The very next day, this modality was sent to the central government. The modality clearly stated that 16 documents will be accepted for the NRC. Of these, the number 13 included the certificate by Gram Panchayat secretary while number 15 included the ration card.

The APW leader alleged that the cabinet sub-committee at the time conspired to ensure that even illegal citizens could include their names in the NRC. The APW president even said several ministers and AASU leaders were also present in that cabinet sub-committee meeting.

But on Feb 28 this year, the Gauhati High Court refused to accept documents by the Gram Panchayat secretary. After this, the Supreme Court on April 20 refused to accept ration card documents in a hearing on a case filed by APW.

APW President Sharma stated that after the court's decision, nearly 8 million ‘Bangladeshi citizens’ names will be removed from the NRC. According to him, around 4.8 million people submitted Gram Panchayat documents to get their names in the NRC while more than 2 million people submitted copies of ration cards.

Had the court not taken this step, only 500,000 Bangladeshis would have been identified by the new NRC but now, roughly 8 million illegal Bangladeshis may be identified.

The APW also said once these Bangladeshis are identified, their voting rights should be abolished and they should be issued employment cards so that they could only work here.

But, AAMSU President Azizur Rahman said from 1979 until now, there have been allegations that Assam is full of Bangladeshis. But, not a single Muslim here is a Bangladeshi, he claimed. The NRC is being updated over the Bangladeshi issue. Once the NRC is completed, it will become clear how many Bangladeshis actually live in Assam.

The AAMSU president has said Muslims in rural interior areas are very poor and uneducated and often face difficulties. Many people do not have proper documents related to citizenship. As far as not accepting ration cards for NRC is concerned, the court should make suggestion as to what other documents should be submitted.

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal said the Assam State Jamiat Ulama (ASJU) will explore legal options in cases where the ration card will not be accepted as a valid document.

Ajmal, who is an MP from Dhubri and also President of ASJU, alleged that the government had the ration cards and Gram Panchayat certificates declared invalid after almost 80 percent work of the NRC had been completed.

As such, the AIUDF and ASJU are worried that genuine citizens who had submitted ration cards as documents may have their names removed from the NRC.

The latest deadline set for completing the NRC in the state has been set in December 2017.