Assam Citizenship Crisis Due to Illegal Infiltration, Part-4

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The Complete Story of the Citizenship Crisis Created by Illegal Infiltration in Assam, Part-1

The Complete Story of the Citizenship Crisis Created by Illegal Infiltration in Assam, Part-2

The Complete Story of the Citizenship Crisis Created by Illegal Infiltration in Assam, Part-3

The Accord Between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

The foundational fact of the dispute currently raging around the National Register of Citizens in Assam is that following the creation of Bangladesh, under an accord reached between the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi and the father of the nascent nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a pledge was made to grant Indian citizenship to those residing in this state up to 25 March 1971 who accepted India as their country; yet it is vital to understand why this was done.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in India from what was then East Pakistan. Upon the creation of Bangladesh, they were granted the option to choose citizenship between India and the nascent nation of Bangladesh. This decision was farsighted, as it guaranteed deep and cordial relations with the newly born neighbouring country in the future; however, over time, it proved downright fatal to national security. Prior to this, when Assam was divided in 1966, all those residing within its geographical boundaries were Assamese citizens. Even earlier, when India was partitioned in 1947, all residents living in India up to January 1948 were Indian citizens. Thereafter, citizens arriving from the other partitioned country were not granted Indian citizenship.

Thus, the 1971 Indira–Sheikh Accord proved to be a milestone in this matter when we transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh. Yet after 1971, starting from the late 1970s, the issue of illegal Bangladeshis began to rear its head in Assam, and by the early 1980s, a massive student agitation erupted in the state over this question. In view of this, in 1983, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi enacted the ‘Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act’ specifically for Assam, which contained the provision that the burden of proving any individual to be an illegal citizen would lie on the person leveling such an accusation, or on the government or the police. However, following the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1984, when the late Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, he entered into an accord in 1985 with the agitationist student leaders of Assam and resolved to prepare a register of citizenship.

Alongside this, he handed over state power to the political wing of the agitating students, the ‘All Assam Gana Parishad’. Subsequently, upon coming to power, the Asom Gana Parishad governments began to work on this in a lax and dilatory manner, and after ensuing state elections, Congress governments began to be formed, led for the longest duration by Shri Tarun Gogoi. The state government was proceeding with this work under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act enacted in 1983, but this statute was challenged in the Supreme Court, which struck it down as unconstitutional in 2005.

The interesting fact is that the person who challenged this law was none other than Sarbananda Sonowal, the current Chief Minister of the BJP government. Thereafter, the matter of illegal citizens once again reached the Supreme Court, which issued directives to prepare the National Register of Citizens under its direct supervision while the Manmohan Singh government was in power. During the hearings on this matter in the Supreme Court that commenced in 2012, the learned justices rejected the contention that the names of 4.1 million doubtful persons who were minorities on religious or linguistic grounds should be excised from the 2006 electoral rolls; nonetheless, the Court maintained its oversight by issuing orders to prepare the citizenship register by identifying illegal citizens. Now that this register has been prepared, it excludes the names of approximately 4 million people residing in Assam.

Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh made a statement in the Lok Sabha on this matter, clarifying that this register is not the final document; it is subject to revision, and those who have been left out can apply to have their names included by completing the necessary documentary formalities. Since this problem is not religious but more of a humanitarian one, and is bound up with India’s constitutional framework, it is obvious that it will have political dimensions as well, because various political parties will not hesitate to capitalize on it; yet by casting this in Hindu–Muslim terms, we will merely be turning our faces away from the real crisis, because the Constitution of India does not permit an illegal citizen to participate in its internal democratic process.

We must remember that an illegal citizen arriving from Bangladesh can be granted Indian citizenship only in accordance with the laws of this land. We must certainly engage with politics, but with the utmost vigilance, placing our national interests above all else; for neighbouring Bangladesh is a friendly nation with which we share a reality where the fields of villagers residing in West Bengal along its borders lie across the border, while they themselves live within Indian territory. The exchange of enclaves along the border executed two years ago was also part of that very ‘Indira–Sheikh’ Accord. This undertaking was accomplished in such a manner that all citizens of the country recognized it to be in the mutual interest of both nations and embraced it whole-heartedly.

– Manish Prakash, The author is a political analyst and writes on issues of national importance.

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