Security was yesterday tightened in the Indian state of Assam before the release of a “citizens register” expected to leave millions deemed “foreign infiltrators” facing detention camps and even deportation.
The National Register of Citizens for the state is due out today, in a move the Hindu nationalist government has suggested it wants to replicate nationwide, with Muslims forming the majority of those expected to be left off.
Authorities in northeastern Assam, for decades a hotbed of inter-religious and ethnic tensions, have brought in 17,000 additional security personnel for the release.
Gatherings of groups of people have been banned in certain areas and Assam police tweeted images of officers on patrol.
A cybercell was on the lookout for “rumor” and “hate speech” on social media, authorities said.
Assam, an isolated state of 33 million, has long seen large influxes from elsewhere, including during British colonial rule and around the 1971 war of independence in neighboring Bangladesh.
Pressure for a lasting solution has been growing for decades from those who see themselves as genuine Assamese. Sporadic violence has included the massacre of about 2,000 people in a single day in 1983.
Only those who can demonstrate that they or their forebears were in India before 1971 can be included in the register, a draft of which in July last year excluded about 4 million people.
However, this is a huge challenge in a poor region where illiteracy is rife and where many lack documentation.
The about 2 million people who are expected to be left off the final register being published today would have 120 days to appeal.
Those rejected can then be declared foreigners and face being stripped of their Indian citizenship and rights, put in a detention camp and even deported, although it is unclear to where.
Critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which also runs Assam, have said that the process reflects its aim to serve only its coreligionists.
In January, the Indian House of the People passed legislation that stands to grant citizenship to people who moved to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan as recently as six years ago — but not if they are Muslim.
For those left off the register, the final decision on their fate lies with about 100 quasi-judicial Foreigners’ Tribunals, another 200 of which are being set up.
However, critics have said that those staffing them are often unqualified, and that the entire process has been riddled with inconsistencies and errors, prompting complaints from all sides.
“We are genuine Indian people. My forefathers were born here in this land,” 55-year-old Saheb Ali, whose name was left off the draft register, told reporters in the village of Khutamari.
“My mother’s name was included in the voter list of 1966. We have submitted the documents while filing the forms. However, her name is not there” in the draft register, Ali said.
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