Over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC draft in Assam last week. They are undocumented immigrants in a country with more than a billion people; this number definitely holds no powerful significance. It’s like a cumin seed in a camel’s mouth. This figure stands reduced to half of the earlier claimed number of immigrants. It was yet not clear how many of them are foreigners. The bloated number was raised just to begin the process of documenting the population.
Where would such a large number of people go after losing their rightful claim of stay as per the National Register of Citizens in Assam? They are compelled to bear the agony in the depth of their heart. This sudden feeling is incredibly strong as a label of the undocumented immigrant has hit them hard. Nothing but an appeal before the Foreigner’s Tribunal can favour them now.
The Assam Public Works (NGO), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updating of the NRC six years ago called the final NRC a flawed document. Even the All Assam Students Union, Assam Gana Parishad was not satisfied. BJP MP Ramen Deka said that the document was not up to the mark as genuine citizens were left out as well. The obvious reason behind this initiative was to bring the population at par.
What the Congress party did not bother to touch was changed by the present union government. Will this figure of 19 lakh decrease after another possible revision? Will the left out people try to knock the doors of the court? In that case, many would be later included if the judicial order happens. After about forty long years, the people have been made to realise they did not belong to a place where they spent their entire life. This is indeed tormenting.
When America was discovered on the world map, the whole of Europe saw its people migrating to that new-found land. It was a fact what type of people showed interest in making their home in the new continent. Just as there was no authentic history of ancient dwellers in India, America, too, failed to distinguish between its aboriginals and migrants. America prospered multi-folds, but we were going in a different direction. If the U.S. was advanced by assimilating every people in its geographical limits, what hindered India to follow the path?