CALCUTTA RESEARCH GROUP 2020 NRC FACTSHEET Media Factsheet on Issues of Citizenship in the Northeast (Educational Materials) Compiled and Introduced by SUBIR BHAUMIK SAMIR PURKAYASTHA SAMRAT CHAUDHURY NRC FACTSHEET Media Factsheet on Issues of Citizenship in the Northeast (Educational Material) Compiled and Introduced by Subir Bhaumik Samir Purkayastha Samrat Chaudhury Calcutta Research Group 2020 1 The factsheet is for limited internal circulation within CRG and its partners, primarily to be used for purposes of education and as ready reference for resource persons and participants who join CRG’s annual Winter Migration Workshop and other CRG Orientation Programmes on related issues. CRG and the editors gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to following media outlets / journals / websites which were all reaccessed between December 2019-March 2020: 1. PangSau 2. East Wind Journal 3. The Wire 4. Scroll.in 5. The Print 6. Firstpost 7. Caravan Magazine 8. NE Now 9. News18 10. Times of India 11. Hindustan Times 12. The Telegraph (Kolkata) 13. The Hindu 14. Frontline 15. Indian Express 16. Economic Times 17. NDTV 18. Business Standard 19. BBC 20. New York Times 21. The Guardian 22. Al Jazeera 23. Vice News 24. Amnesty International 25. India Today 26. Raiot 27. Newslaundry 28. Livemint 29. Countercurrents 30. The Federal 31. Quartz India 32. The Week 33. The Diplomat 34. DailyO 35. Himal Magazine The compilation is part of the material of the orientation programme in migration and forced migration studies. The programme is conducted by the Calcutta Research Group (CRG) and supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) 2 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................7 SECTION ONE......................................................................................................................13 The Illusive Indian ...................................................................................................................14 The Great NRC Mess...............................................................................................................23 What is National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam..........................................................27 National Register of Citizens: Assam has its own context, misrepresenting it won’t help .....29 The Spectre of Citizenship: History & Politics of NRC in Assam ..........................................33 Why we need to know the history behind NRC ......................................................................39 Non-citizens and history ..........................................................................................................43 NRC: The journey of a historical consensus............................................................................48 By right of blood: how changes to India’s citizenship regime put millions at risk of becoming stateless in Assam Province.....................................................................................................51 The Unending Conundrum: The Story of Citizens/Foreigners between Politics and the Law in Assam.......................................................................................................................................54 SECTION TWO.....................................................................................................................62 “Worse Than a Death Sentence”: Inside India’s Sham Trials That Could Strip Millions of Citizenship ...............................................................................................................................63 Assam NRC: Are India’s ‘unwanted people’ being driven to suicide? ...................................76 We broke news to four Assam families: They must prove they are Indians again, for no fault of theirs ....................................................................................................................................79 The SC Is Exceeding Its Brief as the Apex Judicial Organ in the NRC Case .........................83 Why Is BJP Changing Tack on NRC in Assam?.....................................................................86 Assam and NRC — the struggle to belong where you belong ................................................91 Gorkhas up in arms against omissions from Assam NRC list.................................................95 New NRC: ‘How many times do we prove citizenship?’........................................................97 Children out, parents in: The real challenge begins now that final Assam NRC is here.........99 Assam NRC: Rights body says over one lakh tribals excluded.............................................106 In Assam, many women, children fail to make NRC even as their family members are counted as citizens .................................................................................................................107 3 Former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's Family Among 2 Million in Assam Staring at Uncertain Future ....................................................................................................................110 India publishes final NRC: All you need to know on citizens' list ........................................111 Assam's Tangled Web of Citizenship and the Importance of a Consensus ...........................114 The citizens’ register is the latest wound in Assam’s long history of loss and hurt ..............124 NRC: The pain and struggle that never ends .........................................................................127 Deconstructing the NRC: With wrongful exclusion and inclusion of names, will the list do justice to the Assamese? ........................................................................................................131 The report on “anti-NRC” journalists is an attempt to intimidate and target them ...............141 India Assam: 'I won't die before I prove my Indian citizenship'............................................143 What happens to India's four million 'stateless' people?........................................................145 NRC: Supporters and opposers must engage each other with empathy ................................149 Those Excluded From Citizens' List Being Harassed Outside Assam: Congress .................151 Made it to the NRC? You may still have to prove your citizenship at a foreigners tribunal.152 Humans of Assam: This soldier was dropped from the NRC – despite having all the documents ..............................................................................................................................154 India's citizenship question and the never-ending Assam imbroglio.....................................156 In Assam, after the NRC, a new project is underway to protect the ‘Assamese people’ ......159 SECTION THREE...............................................................................................................165 Government will implement NRC across the country: Amit Shah........................................166 The NRC’s spillover effect ....................................................................................................167 Citizenship Bill push demand for NRC in North East...........................................................173 'CAB: Assam Accord's Clause 6 will bring stability' ............................................................174 ABSU demands centre to allay fears of tribals post CAB .....................................................176 Two Weeks After Promising Karnataka NRC 'Soon', Yediyurappa Govt Rolls Back Decision ................................................................................................................................................177 As NRC fear engulfs West Bengal, Mamata says 11 committed suicide..............................179 Trouble is brewing again in the East......................................................................................181 Why India doesn’t need NRC................................................................................................183 4 A National Register of Citizens for India: A Tool Kit for Hindu Rashtra?...........................186 India: Fear among Muslims over planned nationwide citizens list........................................192 The NRC and India’s Unfinished Partition............................................................................195 NRC: Once bitten, twice shy – Hindu immigrants in West Bengal.......................................200 Why Amit Shah’s promise to extend a pan-India NRC to Assam will not be easy ..............204 Will Not Allow NRC In West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee.....................................................207 Islamic Clerics to Educate UP Muslims on 22 Documents in Preparation of Nation-wide NRC .......................................................................................................................................209 How BJP lit the CAB fire that threatens to burn itself in Assam ..........................................210 SECTION FOUR .................................................................................................................214 India election 2019: Echoes of Trump in Modi's border politics...........................................215 Foreigners' Tribunals creating 'havoc' in India's Assam: Amnesty .......................................220 USCIRF expresses concern over potential abuse of NRC in Assam.....................................223