by Pallab Bhattacharya 6 July 2019
When the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam began two years ago, it was expected to have a contagion effect in the rest of northeast India where identity politics has always been pronounced. The first sign of that has come in the public domain with the government in Assam’s next-door neighbour, Nagaland, having announced a move to draw up a digital database of all indigenous inhabitants of the state.
The exercise to prepare the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) will start from July 10 and will be completed in 60 days, according to a notification issued by Nagaland Home Commissioner R Ramakrishnan on Saturday last. Nagaland is one of the seven north-eastern states which had witnessed street protests a few months ago against the Citizenship Amendment Bill that seeks to give Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to these organisations, “illegal immigrants” could subjugate Nagas and make the latter “second-rate citizens” in their own land. The threat of “illegal immigrants” is clearly at play in Nagaland.
The RIIN is to prevent issuance of indigenous inhabitant certificates to ineligible persons. Only those persons whose names will figure in the RIIN will be issued indigenous inhabitant certificate, the official said. It also said the provisional lists prepared by the teams constituted would be published in the villages and wards as well as on the website of the district and the state government on September 11. Claims and objections can be filed for a period of 30 days thereafter, that is on or before October 10, 2019. Based on this, the list of indigenous inhabitants will be finalised and each indigenous inhabitant will be given a unique ID, the notification said. Once the process is complete and all genuine indigenous inhabitants are issued certificates and RIIN is notified, all existing indigenous inhabitant certificates issued by any authority will become invalid, the notification said. The database would be updated with latest photographs and other details every five years. The notification also stated there would be a complete ban on issue of fresh indigenous inhabitant certificates.
There appears to be little doubt that the Nagaland has taken a cue from Assam in preparing RIIN. The main difference between RIIN and NRC is that while the former is an executive decision, the latter is mandated by the Supreme Court. The NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, work along ethnic and religious fault lines but the RIIN has only the ethnic dimension.
There had been media reports about some other north-eastern states having their own versions of the NRC. Whether it is the NRC, the RIIN or any other variation, the common thread running through all of them is to guard against “outsiders” and “illegal immigrants.” Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, in its recent parliamentary election campaign, had made “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh a key plank in order to construct a polarising narrative.
Armed with an electoral mandate bigger than the one in the previous national poll in 2014, the party today is more determined to take forward the NRC process. This is reflected in President Ram Nath Kovind’s first speech to both the Houses of parliament last month after the constitution of the newly-elected Lok Sabha. “Illegal infiltrators pose a major threat to our internal security. This is leading to social imbalance in many parts of the country as well as putting a huge pressure on the limited livelihood opportunities,” Kovind said and made it a point to mention that the federal government “has decided to implement the process of NRC on a priority basis in areas affected by infiltration.” The president’s speech is reflective of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s articulation of views on a range of issues. The BJP leadership has made no secret of its intention to extend the NRC to other parts of India, particularly in West Bengal where lakhs of immigrants cutting across religious lines reside after having come from across the border. This has spawned a sense of insecurity among a section of these immigrants.
The Economic Times recently reported that the Indian home ministry has moved to set up a digital platform containing details of illegal immigrants, their biometrics and legacy data, focusing first on Assam and later to other parts of India. The platform, according to the daily, will connect all stakeholders, including police, foreigners’ tribunals, detention centres, federal and state governments on issues related to illegal immigrants. This data would be shared among states so that a tab can be kept on “immigrants” if they try to move out of Assam and settle down somewhere else within India. The newspaper report also said that the federal government has asked all states to set up detention centres to restrict the movement of foreigners staying back illegally so that they are available at any time to facilitate their expeditious repatriation or deportation.
The NRC has struck the right chord in almost the entire northeast. Most of the states in the region had been hit by street protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill on the ground that it will pave the way for influx of immigrants and “outsiders.” The north-eastern states are highly sensitive about their identities and prefer to remain insulated from outside influence. There are rules like inner line permit which an outsider needs to visit the northeast. These rules seek to preserve the protective wall around the societies in the region. An example of how touchy north-eastern states are about these rules when several outfits, including the Naga Students’ Federation in Nagaland, voiced concerns over a public interest litigation petition filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in the Supreme Court opposing extension of inner line permit (ILP) to Dimapur, which was the only area in the state which was not subjected to this restriction.
The organisations reminded that in view of the backwardness and demography of the region, the colonial British government had promulgated Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873 to protect the land and resources of Nagas from interference by non-Nagas. According to these organisations, “illegal immigrants” could subjugate Nagas and make the latter “second-rate citizens” in their own land. The threat of “illegal immigrants” is clearly at play in Nagaland.
Pallab Bhattacharya is a special correspondent for The Daily Star.