Given the demographic change in Assam, is the NRC a step too little?
A lot of mess has happened in the last several decades in India. But the biggest one was how the Bangladeshis were allowed to infiltrate into India, specifically Assam and change the demography. The locals were being edged out and no one cared.
Now, with the announcement of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), 19,06,657 persons did not submit any claims for the citizenship and so have been left out of the register. They will be deported. This is actually very little too late because so many will be deemed as Indian citizens.
The whole exercise has been done under the aegis of Supreme Court of India.
In a statement NRC authorities stated the process of NRC Update was started in the state of Assam as per order of the Supreme Court of India in 2013. Since then, the Apex Court has been closely monitoring the entire process. The process of NRC update in Assam differs from the rest of the country and is governed by Rule 4A and the corresponding Schedule of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
But does it account for what has really happened here? Take a look at this tweet by Anand Ranganathan.
So when the global media tries to villify the Modi government of doing something bad to the minorities, they show their ignorance of the processes. They forget that this was part of a democratic process, where:
The process of National Register of Citizens was ordered by the Supreme Court and was part of the Assam Accord where the Government of India promised to do this for the people of Assam
It was done in a very deliberative manner with full precautions and sensitivity
The problem with global media is that they still have the “White man’s burden” syndrome. That they know things better than others. And can dictate how the democracy in other countries should run.