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Politics of Migration and Muslims in Assam: a Study Abstract The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis ISSN NO: 0886-9367 Title: Politics of Migration and Muslims in Assam: a Study Abstract The quantum of migration may be varied from one space to another but the world has been witnessing it throughout the system. One of the Indian states Assam too has been facing with unabated migration over the years. The east Bengal origin Muslim peasants are cheaply targeted by the mainstream society. Undoubtedly, the excessive population of Muslim has been escalating the Bangladeshi phobia, the illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi labelling propels them to sharp their group identity. The update of National Register of Citizen is for detecting and deporting the illegal migrants irrespective of religion. As per the earlier projection of illegal migration, the figure of final list of NRC is relatively less. In the mean time the existing BJP government is favouring Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 for providing citizenship to all the religiously persecuted people except Muslim of neighbouring countries. So, people including different organisations are in dilemma as Assam has been failing repeatedly to solve the politics of migration. The Assamese identity is facing substantial challenge from different parochial identities. Besides, it has competitiveness with Bengali identity and once the east Bengal origin Muslims contributed as saviour officially identifying themselves as Assamese. Hence, Assam is facing challenge in protecting its composite stature rejecting the Bangladeshi. Therefore, NRC is a political endeavour for avoiding doubt and suspicion among the people. It also enhances the inclusiveness of greater Assamese identity in near future. Key Words: Assam, Assamese, Citizenship, Identity, Migration, Muslim, Politics Introduction Migration is a never ending phenomenon. „We live in a world of some 200 million migrants- may be 10-14 million of them refugees. About 3 per cent of the World‟s population are on the move‟ (UN Development Report 2009). Migration is a process whose roots stretch back to the earliest stages of written history and beyond (Giddens 2009:654). With the changing time and space, the pattern of migration has also been changing. Basically, there are three grounds of migration i.e. voluntary, planned and forced. From the geopolitical point of view migration can be categorised as global, regional and local and which is again categorised as internal as Volume XI, Issue X, October/2019 Page No:516 The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis ISSN NO: 0886-9367 well as external. Accordingly there are two dimensions of migration i.e. inward from outside and outward from inside. The traditional theory of migration focused on „push‟ and „pull‟ factors as one forced to migrate to different destinations and other attracted the immigrants from different destinations. Scholars have identified four models of migration to describe the main global population movements since 1945. The classical model in which immigrants are largely encouraged and the promise of citizenship has been extended to newcomers, although restrictions and quotas help to limit the annual intake of immigrants. The colonial model which favours immigration from former colonies is the second model of migration. Countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Belgium have followed the third policy as the guest workers model. Under such a scheme, immigrants are admitted into the country on a temporary basis, often in order to fulfil demands within the labour market, but do not receive citizenship rights even after long periods of settlement. Finally the illegal forms of immigration through which immigrants enter a country either secretly or under a „non-immigration‟ pretence and live unofficially. (Giddens 2013: 657-8, Macionis and Plummer 2014: 365) Migration has both positive and negative implications but nobody remains beyond the purview of migration politics. Although different factors are contributing in migration but survival opportunity determines the entire system. There is an unprecedented migration of people in the global sphere and probably it will persist in the coming days too. Different parts of India and particularly Assam has been suffering from unabated migration over the years. Here an attempt has been made to comprehend the migration politics of Assam in contemporary time. Background of Migration Politics in Assam The temperament of migration in post colonial India is full of complexity. The upshot of partition propels a huge migration of Hindu people from Pakistan to India and reversely Muslims left India for Pakistan. The constitution of India has given adequate space for the partition victims. Accordingly, the Citizenship Act 1955 was an attempt for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship. Later on, the Act has been amended for multiple times but by the recent Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 brought by the present BJP government aspires to provide citizenship to all the victims of religious persecution except Volume XI, Issue X, October/2019 Page No:517 The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis ISSN NO: 0886-9367 the Muslim of neighbouring countries. At present, the proposition has been facing substantial challenge from different capacities particularly in Assam. The migration politics of Assam has its historical prominence and undoubtedly it has substantial impact throughout the system. It is a matter of concern for all to comprehend the factors behind such type of migration. Time and over again, people are facing disastrous situation for flood and erosion, ethnic violence, development induced displacement etc. and subsequently it pushes someone to migrate from one place to another. Even the migration from the rural area to the urban space in search of opportunities is also apparent therein. However these are irrelevant in the larger domain of migration politics of Assam. In Assam, illegal migrants are the major concern for one and all. It is susceptible that such illegal migration has been coming from the neighbouring countries of India. The homely condition and developmental opportunities in Assam encourages all the migrants to settle therein. The Assamese mainstream society has strongly rejected CAB as they are reluctant to accept any person as the region is overloaded by the migrated people. A huge number of people prior to 25 March 1971 were already accepted by the Assam Accord in the year 1985. Hence, 25 March 1971 is the base year for detecting, deleting and deporting illegal migrants irrespective of religion. As per the provision of Assam Accord and by the by under the supervision of Supreme Court, for the first time National Register of Citizen (NRC) is updated in Assam. However, different organizations, political parties, civil society groups, individuals are dissatisfied with the final figure pointing some anomalies in the updating process. Here, an attempt has been made to comprehend the politics of migration with the dossier of NRC in Assam. Politics of Migration in Assam Understanding history and geography is inevitable to root out the pattern of migration whether it is in Assam or somewhere else. Assam is the dumping ground of migrated people since time immemorial. As of, the Austroasiatic language speaking Khasi and Jaintia people are the first settler in greater Assam. However, the Karbi arleng (literally man in Karbi language) are considered as the earliest settler of present Assam. The Karbis along with others entered Assam from Central Asia in the pre historic period. Even Bishnu Prashad Rabha, a prominent cultural icon refers them as the Columbus of Assam. Accordingly, the Kachari group i.e. Bodo, Rabha, Mishing, Sonowal kachari, Deuri, Chutiya, Garo, Hajong etc. had also settled in this region within a similar time frame. Almost all the tribal‟s are Volume XI, Issue X, October/2019 Page No:518 The International journal of analytical and experimental modal analysis ISSN NO: 0886-9367 regarded to be remnants of primitive or ancient Mongolian migrants to this region. Needless to say, they are undoubtedly the original natives of Assam (Hussain 1993: 169). Furthermore, the Bodo-Kachari tribals who created the first culture and civilization in Brahmaputra valley and in the real sense they are the first natives of the valley (ibid 1993: 169). The ancient period witnessed the arrival of some Bor bhuyan kayastha, Hindu Brahmins, Kalita etc. In the medieval period, a group of people i.e. Ahom, a small amount of Brahmins, Muslims had settled in Assam. The Modern period starts with the annexation of British in the year 1828. However, British had formally taken over the administrative charge in the year 1874. In the colonial period, it was witnessed that a massive migration occurred under the patronage of British and the trend continues even in the post colonial period too. The post colonial migration is the focal point of migration politics in Assam. As stated earlier that Migration has positive as well as negative implications throughout the system. But the most prudent impact is witnessed through the spectrum of demography as a few districts are pouring with excessive population of a particular community. At present there are two different schools of thoughts as one group believes migration is still unstoppable phenomenon and other rejects the proposition. The notable point is that illegal migration and its solution is not a debate of recent past in Assam. But migration in the milieu
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