In line with Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda following the Kashmir grab, more than 4 million people in India, primarily Muslims, are at risk of being displaced by being declared migrants in their own country. On 13th September, news broke that the Indian government was building mass detention camps after nearly 2 million people were informed that they could be stripped of their citizenship as their names do not appear in the NRC, the National Register of Citizens.
The citizenship list was published in August 2019. The list is part of Modi’s attempt to shape the contours of India to be purely Hindu and redefine the meaning of being Indian. It forms part of his government’s attempts to highlight and pick out illegal immigrants in the state of Assam, North-East of India. They claim that Muslim majority in Assam who originate from Bangladesh are not rightful citizens despite having lived in Assam for years.
The citizens whose names do not appear in the register will have to appeal to prove their citizenship. However, contention to being branded a non-citizen is not straightforward. A person whose name does not appear on the NRC takes on the burden to prove that they are rightful citizens. In this case, they would procure a birth certificate or a land deed. But the catch that emerges is that many of these citizens are rural residents who don’t have the paperwork. The people who do, cannot read it as nearly 25% of the population in Assam is illiterate.
Malati Hajong, a labourer working on a site near Goalpara, a village in Assam stated, “We don’t have birth certificates.”
Citizens that fail to prove their citizenship in front of the Foreigner’s tribunal, High Court of Assam or the Supreme Court will be sent to one of the ten mass detention camps that the Indian government plans on laying out. These will be complete with watch towers and boundary walls.
The first mass detention camp is located in Goalpara, where labourers have cleared a forest spanning seven soccer fields for the foundation of the centre for ‘illegal’ immigrants. The camp will exclude no one, children and nursing mothers will also be sent there. However, Indian officials have been quick to point out that the camp will not be laid out like an ordinary jail.
During a parliament session in July, Union Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy stated, “Special attention is to be given to women/nursing mothers and children. Children lodged in detention centres are to be provided educational facilities in nearby local schools.”
The camps will adhere to the guidelines that have been published by the government. The construction will include basic amenities like hygiene, accommodation with beds, toilets with running water, kitchens, electricity and means of communication.
A trip down the memory lane explains the question of why India wants to house supposed non-citizens in mass detention centres. In the late 19th century, during the colonisation of India, the British established huge tea plantations in Assam. The plantation required laborers, drawing in masses from Nepal and Bengal. This led to the inevitable shift in the demographics in Assam, which generated anxiety in the local Assamese people about the dissolution of their culture due to the change.
Flashforward to 1947, when the two countries of Pakistan and India were created after the partition. The creation warranted bloodshed, loot, murder and rape, as families fled to Pakistan or India based on personal preferences and choices. India drew in many Muslims who had roots in the region. This migration further generated resentment in Assam as they viewed Muslims as opportunity stealers, swooping in and taking up professional jobs and economic opportunities that were rightfully theirs.
The independence of East Pakistan in 1971 created a new country called Bangladesh. The war and strife in the region prompted huge numbers of Muslims to seek refuge in India, mainly in Assam.
The relationship between Hindus and Muslims was tenuous from the beginning. In 1983, the Assam movement took root, waging a war against the ‘illegal’ immigrants eligible to vote. The tensions boiled over, culminating in what is now known as the Nellie Massacre which lead to the deaths of 1819 people. The investigation into the massacre was lax, as no one has yet been apprehended for it.
Following the mass killing, the Indian government signed a peace treaty known as the Assam Accord with the movement leaders. The Accord has promised to ‘protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.’ It also vowed for the ‘detection and deletion of foreigners [living in Assam].’ The Accord also promised to find a way to identify the people who migrated to Assam after 1971.
While half-baked plans were devised to create a citizenship list, the process of filtering through the paperwork of millions proved to be complex and arduous which meant that the governments in power could not fulfil the task.
This has changed with the advent of Modi and BJP, whose agenda posits Hindu nationalism above all else, placing Hindu interest at the top of the priority list. The rise in anti-Muslim sentiment went hand in hand with the rise of Hindu nationalism which created the pressure to see the publishing of the list through. In 2013, an official order was passed by the Supreme Court to publish an NRC which was up to date.
The government of Assam published the list in late 2018. The list caused a wave of public outcry and anxiety as nearly 4 million people found that they had been left off. The list notably excluded some know Bengali Hindus, such as Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and Radheshyam Biswas, who are member of Assam’s minority party.
The outcry perpetuated a revision via appeals and a final version was published. This time around, nearly 1.9 million names were excluded, and these were mostly of Bengali Muslims.
The creation of detention camps points to the plight faced by the majority of Muslims in India. Following the order to create detention camps, panic has seized the Muslim population driving some of them to consider drastic measures such as suicide. Such was the case of Noor begum, who, after finding out that she and her mother had been left off the list, committed suicide by hanging herself from a rafter.
The perpetuation of Hindutva by Modi has led to a widespread prosecution of Muslims all over India. There has been a spike in hate crimes by at least 90% during Modi’s tenure. Cases of lynching, punishment for selling beef have become routine. Just last month, Modi cracked down on the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, revoking article 370, subsuming the state into Indian territory.
The ruling party has consistently degraded the Muslim minority of India by dehumanising the population and erasing their identity. The BJP home minister and President Amit Shah has been reported as stating, “These infiltrators are eating away at our country like termites. The NRC is our means of removing them.”
Such statements have caused institutions such as the UN, Human Rights Watch and other international rights organizations to voice concern over the possibility of millions becoming stateless.
Tony Perkins and Commissioner Anuriuma Bhargva of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated, “We remain troubled by any government policies or actions that have the effect, whether intentional or not, of undermining religious freedom for vulnerable religious minorities. The National Register of Citizens verification process must not become a means to target and render stateless the Muslim community in North-Eastern India.”
The process also seems to be calculated in its elimination of Muslims. Meenakshi Ganugly, a director at Human Rights Watch stated, “As human rights experts, we are right now saying this process has been arbitrary and discriminatory.” She goes on to say “This is a populist way of doing things. It’s very similar to what you’re hearing in the US: ‘These people come and take away our jobs, our country doesn’t look like it’s ours anymore.’ It’s a narrative that often appeals to people facing challenges in securing jobs and supporting their families.”
Despite the backlash from the international community, the government of India is determined to carry on. Subrahmanyam Jaishanka, the foreign minister of India said that the verification of citizenship is an ‘internal matter’.
The spokesman for the Ministry stated that those who had been left off the list “will not be detained and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they have exhausted all the remedies available under the law.”
The construction of Goalpra is estimated to be completed by December. If the plan goes through, millions of Muslims might be displaced, culminating in the worst refugee crisis in the history of the world.
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