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NRC) a Catalyst in Historical Marginalization of Gorkhas in Assam?

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NRC) a Catalyst in Historical Marginalization of Gorkhas in Assam? www.ijar.net.in International Journal of Advanced Research | Volume – 10 | Issue – 1 | 2020 February | ISSN 2278-7275 Research Wing Confederation of Kerala College Teachers C.H. Building, Red Cross Road, Calicut Kerala, India IJAR International Journal of Advanced Research ISSN 2278-7275 IJAR www.ijar.net International Journal of Advanced Research | Volume – 10 | Issue – 1 | 2020 February | ISSN 2278-7275 IJAR www.ijar.net International Journal of Advanced Research | Volume – 10 | Issue – 1 | 2020 February | ISSN 2278-7275 1 IJAR International Journal of Advanced Research ISSN 2278-7275 Is National Register of Citizens (NRC) a Catalyst in Historical Marginalization of Gorkhas in Assam? Co-authors Hena Bari Ph. D in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Email: [email protected] Md. Najibullah Singakhongbam Ph.D in JNU Email: [email protected] Abstract The Gorkhas or Nepalis in India who experienced discrimination and marginalization from within the community itself and other mainstream communities can be traced back to the colonial period. The existing of identity crisis and genuine claim of Gorkhas Nationality in India had been more intensified in diluting it by the signing of Indo- Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1950 that promotes free flow of people from Nepal. The Nepalis in Assam, integrated with the Asamiya nationality and preferred themselves as ‘Nepali Asamiya’, have suffered from the twin issue of ‘foreigners‘and ‘displacement’. The Assam movement of 1970s and 1980s along with Bodoland movement in mid-1990s witnessed perpetrated massacres, ethnic cleansing, victimization and displacement. Nepalis, treated often as illegal foreigners, in spite of residing in India for centuries, are seen as threats to the socio-cultural and political identity of the Asamiyas in their traditional homeland. The reasons for exclusion of reported one Lakh Gorkhas out of 25 lakhs Gorkhas in Assam in the published final NRC list by August 31, 2019 could be varied ranging from clerical mistakes or inability to produce documents as per cut off year of 1971 or failure to establish family relationships. Gorkha community also observes this exclusion as resulting from the ignorance of their deep –rooted and complex history of Gorkhas in India and the determinants of Indo-Nepal Treaty 1950. The recent Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is also perceived to be less viable option for registering the excluded Nepalis as citizens of India. Therefore, this paper attempts to analyze the marginalization of Gorkhas in India particularly in Assam, their social inclusion threat in the mainstream society and the effects on their existence after the implementation of NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Keywords Gorkhas, Marginalization, Illegal foreigners, National Register of Citizens. 2 IJAR International Journal of Advanced Research ISSN 2278-7275 Introduction Gorkhas or Nepalis popularly known as Indian Gorkhas are predominantly concentrated in Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas and a small population is diversely distributed in other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and North East region. The Gorkhas took part in the process of nation building endeavors through serving the nation in military, agrarian belts, plantation frontiers and service sectors. About one crore Gorkha population are living in India without any state of their own. However, Gorkhas undergo the intra-community marginalization as well as inter-community marginalization processes. The process of marginalization has led to the emergence of inter-ethnic rifts and struggle for political and other human and social rights that finally sparked the demand for a separate state for Nepali speaking Indians called Gorkhaland in West Bengal in early 1980s. Formation of a Gorkhaland state is viewed as panacea in dwindling the process of marginalization from dominated mainstream communities. This paper, in the following sections, brings into brief description of history of Gorkhas in India and Assam. It analyses how marginalization of Gorkhas are executed in Bengal and Assam in different manners and also how the Assam movements had victimized and treated Gorkhas in exercising their social and political rights. The last section of the paper brings into analysis on how the exercise of National Register of Citizens would determine the status of Gorkha community and what implications could be faced by the Gorkha in Assam. Immigration of Gorkhas in India and Assam Gorkhas or Nepalis immigrated to the Eastern Himalayas consisting of Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan. In 1652 CE, Chogyal dynasty while ruling in Sikkim invited few Newars (goldsmiths) to mint coins and they started settlement and initiated terrace cultivation who are only exponent of this cultivation in a sustainable nature (Sharma and Das 5). The history of Gorkha immigration to the then undivided Assam is found to be the history of five hundred long years when Ahom Kings used to rule there. The terrace cultivation along with Gai Goth (cow sheds) as well as animal husbandry of the Gorkhas attracted the Ahom kings as it used to yield good revenue to the government of Ahom kings. And British while ruling in India realized the fighting spirit of the Gorkhas with their Khukuris, discerned their ability and attitude clearly and employed them in the armed force services of British. Marginalization of Gorkhas in India. The Gorkhas experienced marginalization from both within the respective community and from other mainstream communities of the country. The formation of Darjeeling District in 1886 and treating it non- regulated district by British had affected the existing communities of Darjeeling and created the space to push the Gorkhas at the periphery position. The Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950 that promotes free flow of people from Nepal had brought disadvantage in diluting Indian Gorkha‘s identity and nationality because 3 IJAR International Journal of Advanced Research ISSN 2278-7275 of the presence of the people with similar culture and language (Lama 26). Identity crisis between Indian Gorkhas and Nepalese of Nepal started manifesting in social, political, economic and cultural spheres. This issue of confusion and dilution of political identity of the Indian Gorkhas was at the heart of the Gorkhaland movement of the 1980s in Darjeeling (27). Besides the identity crisis, “Indian Gorkhas remained political docile, economically exploited and educationally backward. Pursuing to distinguish their identity from the Nepalese nationals of Nepal became challenging as they are a floating population and have no political, social, constitutional and legal affinity with the Indian Gorkhas” (32). i) In Assam Gorkhas or Nepalis initially came as construction workers, tea and mining laborers and military personnel and started to fit into the colonial designs of the British. In Tribal belts and blocks and Autonomous Councils of Assam like Bodo, Rabha, Missing and Lalung, the Nepalis face the problem of land ownership, education, employment and voting right ( Bhandari 122). The apprehensive of Assamese for their alleged threat to their identity made Nepalis vulnerable to various kinds of violence, conflict and displacement. They are “assimilated into the host society and contributed to the social, economic, and political development of the state” (Nath 208). They prefer to call themselves as ‘Nepali Asamiya’. However, they were treated as illegal foreigners or infiltrators and demanded to get them ouster from Assam during the ‘the Assam Movement of the 1970s and 1980s ignoring deliberately the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950 which allowed the free movement of Indian and Nepali nationals on reciprocal basis. Article 6 of the treaty states that each Government undertakes, in token of the neighborly friendship between India and Nepal, has to give to the nationals of the other, in its territory, national treatment with regard to participation in industrial and economic development of such territory and to the grant of concessions and contracts relating to such development. And Article 7 provides that the Governments of India and Nepal agree to grant, on reciprocal basis, to the nationals of one country in the territories of the other the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature. And during the Bodoland movement in mid-1990s, perpetrated massacres, even the ethnic cleansing was done to displace and compel a large number of Nepalis to live in the relief camps. The development of past twenty years has shown that the Nepalis are very backward, treated partially and suffer from a sense of deprivation, discrimination and insecurity (209). Assam Movement (1979-85) and its Effects on the Assamese Gorkha The Assam movement targeted not only the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh but also the Nepali immigrants to Assam. They became unwanted foreigners and dangerous to Asamiya in their traditional homeland. The demand for removing the names of the Nepalis from the electoral rolls, deporting them from Assam and categorizing them indiscriminately as foreigners profoundly affected them (215). Therefore, Assam Gorkha organizations demanded the demand for the abrogation of the Article 7 of the Indo-Nepal Friendship treaty of 4 IJAR International Journal of Advanced Research ISSN 2278-7275 1950. However, the Nepalese community in Assam has today suffered from the twin issue of ‘foreigners’ and
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