Part 1

On the occasion of India’s 79th Independence Day, PM Modi alerted the nation to the dangers of illegal immigration. He remarked: “Today, I wish to warn the nation of a grave concern and challenge. As part of a deliberate conspiracy, the demography of the country is being altered. Seeds of a new crisis are being sown……….. When demographic change occurs, particularly in border areas, it creates a crisis for national security. It threatens the unity, integrity, and progress of the country. It sows the seeds of social tension. No country can hand itself over to infiltrators. No nation in the world does so—how then can we allow Bharat to do so? Our forefathers attained freedom through sacrifice; they gave us a free Bharat. It is our duty towards those great souls that we do not accept such acts within our nation….."

Every word of the Prime Minister resonated with the reality playing out in the Northeastern states, especially Assam and W. Bengal. The danger is real and needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency.

In light of the history of the region, the danger that Muslim migration posed to the cultural character and people of Assam was well recognized by our founding fathers at the time of independence. Accordingly, in 1950, the government passed the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950.

The Act authorized the government to expel ‘certain’ immigrants who had infiltrated into Assam from outside of India whose stay in Assam would be ‘detrimental to the interests of the general public of India or of any section thereof or of any Scheduled Tribe in Assam.’

That it was aimed specifically at keeping out Muslims from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from illegally entering the country was clear from the sub-text of the Act: it was not applicable to persons fleeing Pakistan due to ‘civil disturbances’ or ‘fear’ (Section 2 (b), indirectly referring to Hindu refugees). In a way, this Act was the original CAA.

More importantly, the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950 set the stage for the first National Register of Citizens (Assam) to be initiated, which was prepared in tandem with the 1951 census. Therefore, to damn the NRC as a creation of the BJP and an anti-Muslim witch-hunt is both fallacious and misleading.

The NRC for Assam has been in existence on paper since 1951 but was never seriously implemented or updated till now — a deficiency that made the Immigrant........

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