By Prabin Choudhury
The following is my father's letter to the Supreme Court of India protesting against the discrimination towards the indigenous people of Assam owing to the erroneous process adopted for preparation/updating of the so-called National Citizens Register (NRC) in Assam as a proposed step towards identifying illegal immigrants.
To
The following is my father's letter to the Supreme Court of India protesting against the discrimination towards the indigenous people of Assam owing to the erroneous process adopted for preparation/updating of the so-called National Citizens Register (NRC) in Assam as a proposed step towards identifying illegal immigrants.
To
The Honourable
Chief Justice,
The Supreme Court
of India,
Tilak Marg,
New Delhi 110 201
Dated Guwahati,
the 4th of July 2015
Subject
: Letter to Case No 274/09, 562/12 or 876/14
Respected Sir,
Most humbly and respectfully I beg
to submit the following with respect to the above cited Cases, for favour of
your kind perusal and sympathetic consideration:
1.
That your honour, I am a Responsible,
Law-abiding and Patriotic citizen of India, an Assamese Indian by birth. I love
my Country, my State, my Race (Assamese) and my Language (Assamese) from the
core of my heart.
2.
That Sir, I am greatly pained to see the
chaotic situation created in my State by the ongoing process of Updating of the
National Citizens Register (NRC). The News Items appearing in the Assamese
Daily News Papers will testify the actual condition.
3.
The very fact that I am being forced to
prove my citizenship and my permanent residency in Assam, establishing my
linkage to my ancestors through a never heard of ‘Legacy Data’, has not only
hurt my personal dignity, status and self-respect; but also created a feeling
of insult and discriminatory treatment to the Assamese race as a whole, as if the
Assamese people are second class Citizens of India.
4.
The Assamese and other Indigenous People
of Assam are facing unimaginable harassment in the process of Updating of the
NRC and a Fear Psychosis has gripped the State due to the perceived fear of
facing deportation from the country due to the uncertainty of inclusion of
their names in the NRC because of non-availability of so-called ‘Legacy Data’.
5.
The feeling of discrimination and
harassment has stemmed from the following:
a)
Nowhere in India, was the NRC prepared in
1951, except for Assam for reasons not known to anybody.
b)
Nowhere in India, is the NRC being
‘updated’. Even in the States of West Bengal. Meghalaya. Tripura and Mizoram,
which share International Border with Bangladesh, similar to Assam, question of
preparing or updating of NRC has not arisen.
c)
The NRC is a misnomer as it has no
National Character (as it was prepared / now being updated only in Assam.).
d)
If NRC would have been a National
Document, it would have been reviewed periodically like the Census and the
Voters’ List. Not even once in the entire history of the Country, the NRC (prepared
only for Assam) was reviewed or updated, clearly indicating that it was
prepared for Assam just once, for some specific purpose; and once the desired
purpose was served, there was no necessity to refer to it again.
e)
The correctness of the NRC prepared on the
basis of Voters’ list in 1951 is extremely doubtful. When the Voters’ lists
prepared in the modern time with modern technology and tools like Computers,
are found to be incorrect with lots of omissions & commissions, the NRC
prepared 64 years ago, in 1951, cannot be expected to be correct, particularly
considering the level of education, infrastructures, status of communications etc.
of that time.
f)
The indigenous people like us are being
asked to trace roots prior to 1951 by procuring ‘Legacy Data’ on the basis of
incorrect and incomplete NRC of 1951, whereas the Foreign Nationals
(Bangladeshi illegal immigrants) who entered Assam after 1951 and up till 24th
March 1971 are told to give only one of about 18 simple documents which are
easily procurable even by unfair means.( There are News Paper reports about availability of such fraudulent documents in
large scale already ). This is really
insulting for the Assamese and other Indigenous People of Assam, whose dignity
and self-respect have been grossly disrespected..
g)
The very fact that so called ‘Legacy Data’
has been prepared for Citizens of Assam alone and not for citizens of other
States of India is discriminatory.
h)
There is a growing feeling among a large
section of the people of Assam that the way the IMDT Act was enforced only in
Assam, similarly the Updating of NRC is also imposed only in Assam with some
hidden objective. Simultaneously there is also growing hope that the way the
IMDT Act was declared Void by the Honourable Supreme Court of India, the Updating
of NRC in Assam will also be scrapped by the Honourable Supreme Court of India to
ensure indiscrimination.
i)
The so called ‘Legacy Data’ available with
the Government are incomplete. For example :
(i)
The present day Nagaland, Mizoram and
Meghalaya were parts of Assam in 1951 as Naga Hills District (now Nagaland),
Luchai Hills District (now Mizoram) and United Khasi & Jayantiya Hills and
Garo Hill Districts (now Meghalaya). The citizen records of the people of those
erstwhile Districts of Assam have not been available as ‘Legacy Data’ now. The
capital of Assam was shifted from Shillong to Guwahati following the creation
of Meghalaya on 21 January 1972. It is quite natural that the Assamese and
other indigenous people of Assam, who were working and residing in Shillong
prior to their shifting from Shilling, had their names in the Electoral Rolls
prepared prior to 24th March 1971 and maintained in the Offices of
the District Administration of United Khasi & Jayantiya Hills and Garo Hill
Districts of the undivided Assam. The said Electoral Rolls of those erstwhile
Districts of Assam are also not available. The NRC update in Assam will not be
complete without the said data; and in the process, names of lakhs of Assamese
and other indigenous people of Assam will be left out in the updated NRC.
(ii)
‘Legacy Data’ in respect of about 80 % of
about 70 Lakhs people belonging to the Tea Tribe Community, are reported to be
unavailable. The NRC update in Assam will not be complete without the said
data; and in the process, names of lakhs of people belonging to the Tea Tribe
Community will be left out in the updated NRC.
(iii)
There are several instances of Assamese
people marrying Marathi, Nepalese, Tamil or other Non-Assamese Girls, in
respect of whom there are no rules how
the names of such Non-Assamese wives of Assamese husbands will be included in
NRC.
(iv)
There are no rules how the names of
Orphans will be included in NRC.
(v)
‘Legacy Data’ in respect of former Chief
Minister of Assam, Late Hiteswar Saikia is reported to be not available. When the ‘Legacy Data’ in respect of a former
Chief Minister is missing, the plight of ordinary citizens can be well-
imagined.
j)
The non-availability of ‘Legacy Data’ for
a large section of the indigenous population has created panic among the people,
particularly among the less educated and rural people. They have developed the
fear that they will be deported to Bangladesh if their names are not included
in the NRC. There are even reports of committing suicide and attempting suicide
due to such fear.
k)
If the situation is allowed to be continued
in this manner, there are apprehensions that civil war like situation might arise
in the State in future. Incidentally, the people belonging to the Tea Tribe
Community, in respect of which ‘Legacy Data’ are reported to be not available
for about 80 % of their people, have already threatened to resort to violent
agitation in case their names are not included in NRC.
6.
Several kinds of objections have been
raised by various quarters in respect of the process. Several issues need to be
addressed to ensure preparation of a Correct NRC with names of all indigenous
people included and names of all Foreign Nationals, primarily Bangladeshis,
excluded. These are complicated and time consuming matters and therefore
unlikely to be resolved before Forms can be filled up within July 2015.
7.
The Bodo people were demanding printing of
Application Forms for NRC Updating in Bodo Language which has been agreed only
on 1st July 2015 in respect of four District of the BTAD area. Printing
the forms, distributing the same and getting the same filled up within 31st
July will be difficult, if not impossible.
8.
There is a growing feeling among a large
section of the population that the entire exercise of Updating of the NRC will
not serve any useful purpose; rather the entire exercise will be futile
one, and to the detriment of the purpose
for which it has been initiated, creating unnecessary chaos in the society..
9.
NRC
is being updated presumably to solve the vexed ‘Foreign Nationals Problem’. The
idea perhaps is: once the names of the Indian People are registered in the NRC,
those left out will be treated as Non-Indians or Foreign Nationals. But to me,
it is a back-door approach. It appears that the Government is unable to detect
and deport Foreigners ( illegally entering and residing in Assam ) under the
Existing Rules of the Law; and therefore resorting to back door approach. With
the kind permission of your honour, I would like to cite a small analogy. In
home, if the rice (Chaul) purchased from market contains some stone chips
(Shil), we pick up the stone chips to make the rice free from stone chips. We
do not pick up the rice leaving out the stones. Let us now compare Assamese
people with rice and the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants with stone chips. We
have about 350 lakhs of people in Assam. If we assume that there are 50 lakh
Bangladeshis, then, instead of detecting these 50 lakhs under Rules of Law, we
are on to detect 300 lakhs Indian nationals residing in Assam by the process of
NRC. Means we are picking up rice instead of picking up stone chips. By
Updating NRC, we are encouraging and supporting inaction and failure of
Government in enforcing Laws in respect of Foreigners entering India illegally.
The Honourable Supreme Court endorsing NRC Updating will tantamount to
indulging and supporting Government’s inaction and failure. I seek apology for my
such submission.
10.
Even if genuine Indians are identified by
updating NRC, the left out people cannot be identified as illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants and deported. They have to be identified and declared Illegal
Immigrants by the Tribunals under the Rules of Law and the Tribunals have to be
satisfied that they need to be deported. Even if the Tribunals order their
deportation, they cannot be deported in absence of a Repatriation Treaty
between India and Bangladesh. Under the circumstances the entire exercise of
NRC Updating will be meaningless, entailing wastage of time and money and only
contributing to creating chaos in the Society.
11.
I would also like to submit that the
‘Assam Accord’ comes to the forefront when a question of solving the vexed
‘Foreign Nationals Problem’ arises; but nowhere in the said Accord, any mention
of ‘NRC Updating’ is found. Nobody knows for sure how the NRC has taken the
centre-stage of solving ‘Foreigners’ Problem’.
12.
The Indigenous People of Assam were not at all
conscious about their voting rights till 1985
and therefore, they cannot be expected
to be conscious at the time of preparation of electoral roll in 1951
(the basis for 1951 NRC ). For this reason, coupled with the level of
education, infrastructures, status of communications etc. of that time, I feel that
the very basis of 1951 NRC, for the current NRC Updating process, is erroneous.
I would like to make a humble appeal to
the Honourable Supreme Court, kindly to consider my foregoing submissions
sympathetically while considering pronouncing a judgement on the above cited
Cases. I strongly believe that the feeling of Discrimination developed in the
minds of the Indigenous People of Assam can be removed either by undertaking preparation/updating
of NRC in the entire country; or by stopping the current process of preparation/updating
of NRC in the State of Assam only, together with the review of the requirement
of documents to grant citizenship to the 1951 – 1971 Stream of immigrants who illegally
entered Assam.
I would also like to make a humble appeal
to the Honourable Supreme Court that in the event it is not possible to give a
final judgement on the entire issue immediately, the Honourable Court may, as
an interim measure, kindly consider extending the deadlines for completing the
NRC Updating Process by at least six months to facilitate addressing of the
various issues mentioned in para 6 above.
I
tender my sincere apology for my presumptuousness of approaching your honour on
the matters.
I
shall most humbly appeal to your honour kindly to pass the necessary orders as
your honour consider fit and proper to remove the feelings expressed
hereinbefore.
Thanking
you ,
Yours
Faithfully,
( Prabin Choudhury )
PRABIN CHOUDHURY
B.Sc.Engg.(Chem),MBA
Formerly General Manager, Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, Guwahati
And Guest Faculty , Department of Business Administration, Gauhati University
B.Sc.Engg.(Chem),MBA
Formerly General Manager, Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, Guwahati
And Guest Faculty , Department of Business Administration, Gauhati University
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