#NRCAssam It's surprising (actually it isn't) to see a tome of opinion seeking to justify illegal migration into Assam. Isn't Assam a part of India? Illegal migration into Assam impllies illegal migration into India too (1/n)
There was an obnoxious piece of legislation Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act enacted in the 1980s. The name of law itself --Illegal Migrants-- recgonised the enormity of the problem more than three decades ago (2/n)
#NRCAssam The IMDT Act, which was later struck down by the SC, placed the onus on the person who accused another of being an illegal citizen to prove the charge. The law was designed to ensure that it became virtually impossible to detect illegal migrants (3/n)
#NRC The IMDT Act set two rules for detecting foreigners in India. IMDT Act for Assam and the Foreigners Act for rest of India. This was ridiculous, laden with ugly, short-sighted political intent. The AASU-led Assam Agitation & the 1985 Assam Accord was based on 4 D's (4/n)
#NRCAssam The 4 D's are: Detection (of illegal migrants), Disenfranchisement, Deportation and Demarcation of the porous Indo-Bangladesh border. The IMDT Act made the first D (Detection) impossible. Without Detection, Disenfranchisement and Deportation can't happen (5/n)
#NRCAssam is an exercise to come out with a comprehensive roster of bonafide Indian citizens living in Assam. This is aimed at achieving the first D--detection of illegal migrants. This should have been done 33 yrs ago. The obnoxious legislation IMDT made it impossible (6/n)
#NRCAssam There may be design flaws in the NRC exercise. For instance, it does give too much powers to the local bureaucrat who accepts and verifies documents/legacy data. But to say NRC or a headcount exercise is not required is to live in an utter state of denial (7/n)
#NRCAssam is not a linguistic/religious/caste/ethnicity-based population census. Its limited, but extremely important, focus is to find out residency status in Assam through legacy data like parents' & grand parents' names in voters' list before March 24, 1971 (8/n)
#NRCAssam It's also surprising to see the some distinguished commentators comparing illegal migrants in Assam with Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees have fled their country fearing persecution by a rogue regime in their own country. In Assam, it is about ILLEGAL migrants (9/n)
#NRCAssam Economics is at the core of the problem. If tens of thousands have left their country, it is because they are better off staying illegally in another country, rather than in their own country. The pressure is now showing in LAND- the principal economic resouce (10/n)
