NRC is the National Register of Citizens. The NRC identified illegal immigrants from
Assam on the Supreme Court's order. This has been a state-specific exercise to keep
its ethnic uniqueness unaltered. But ever since its implementation, there has been a
growing demand for its nationwide implementation. Now, many top BJP leaders
including Home Minister Amit Shah have proposed that the NRC in Assam be
implemented across India. It effectively suggests to bring in a legislation that will enable
the government to identify infiltrators who have been living in India illegally, detain them
and deport them to where they came from. 1
The proposed Bill, which till now remains just a proposal, if implemented will target
illegal immigrants in India. But Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains and Parsis
coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh won't be affected, if they claim they
have arrived India after fleeing religious persecution. Which essentially means if a
nationwide NRC comes in as proposed, any illegal immigrant from other than Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Bangladesh, will be affected. And as for those three nations, people
coming from there who belong to the Muslim community will also be affected as they
are not included in the Citizenship Amendment Act.
THE 1951 NRC IN ASSAM
NRC for Indian citizens in Assam was first created in 1951. Manipur and Tripura were
also granted permission to create their own NRCs, but it never materialized. The reason
behind the move was to identify Indian citizens in Assam amid "unabated" migration
from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
The list comprised of those who lived in India on January 26, 1950, or were born in
India or had parents who were born in India or had been living in India for at least five
years before the January 26, 1950 cut-off.
The process to update the register began following a Supreme Court order in 2013,
with the state’s nearly 33 million people having to prove that they were Indian nationals
prior to March 24, 1971.
The updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants
failing to make it to the list. 2
CONCLUSION
As proposed, if a nationwide NRC comes in place, the affected will be detained and
taken to large detention centers, as it is happening in Assam. After that, the Ministry of
External Affairs will get in touch with the concerned nations. If the details of the detained
are matched and accepted by the concerned nations, deportations will follow. The
politics of NRC, BJP chief Shah has been raising the pitch for a nationwide NRC for
some time now. As late as this October, Shah raised the matter in West Bengal, not far
from Assam. He had said, We had brought the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, but the TMC MPs did not allow the Upper House to function. They did not allow the bill to be passed, and due to this, there are people in our country who are yet to get
the Indian citizenship. In Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar too made the
promise of bringing the NRC in the state during his election campaigning. Even Mohan
Bhagwat, the RSS supremo has been pitching for the same, though behind closed
doors. Whether a nationwide NRC will come in place or not is a premature question to
answer. But going by the speed the government is moving in bringing some rather bold
legislation, like abrogation of Article 370 in the monsoon session of Parliament and
CAB in the winter session, a pan-India NRC Bill in the next Parliament session won't be
a far fetched idea.
Sources:
1 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/all-you-need-to-know-about-proposed-pan-india-nrc/articleshow/72671119.cms
https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-nrc