Page 49 - 15SEPT2018E

CITIZENSHIP

NRC limbo goes on for

‘persecuted’ Hajongs

In 2013, the Hajong
“refugees” of Assam saw
a ray of hope when the
State geared up to solve
the prolonged problem of
‘Doubtful voters’ with March
24, 1971, set as the cutoff
date. NANDITA SENGUPTA
reports

• Feeling ignored Gunamoni Dalu (L) and Hajongs (R) of Bamungaon were left out of NRC up hearing the insult of being Bang-
he hope to getting rid ladeshis but we thought NRC would
of the long refugee tag, remove that insulting tag. We all
however, was dashed on “My mother was killed by Mus- Rajiv Gandhi and those leading are in favour of NRC and its cut-off
July 30, when the final lim miscreants in East Pakistan. the Assam Agitation or anti-foreign- date. But, why our applications have
T draft of the NRC contain- I came here with my father Dhane- ers movement. been rejected despite the fact that
ing names of more than 2.89 crore swar. I have no one to look after But Hajongs have questioned we have pre-1971 documents? We
applicants was published. Ninety and I work as a daily wager to sur- why they have been left out despite visited the local circle office ask-
of the 112 families of Bamungaon vive. What will I do if I am sent back the fact that they had pre-1971 docu- ing the reasons for rejection of our
in Assam’s Kamrup district, about to Bangladesh? I have none there ments to prove that their forefa- applicants, but too seems to be
60 km west of Guwahati, did not • Fate undecided Nimai Hajong with his wife Sinnibala at Bamungaon too,” narrated Gunamoni as she thers lived in Assam before 1971. clueless,” he said.
find their names in the draft NRC, looked blank. Thirty-seven-year-old Rupdhar Rupdhar will submit claims with
raising fears that they would be “Please do something so that Hajong, who had gathered like sev the documents on September 7, the
declared foreigners and “pushed Although Nimai is unable to tell Bangladeshis, refugees and our we are included in the NRC,” she eral others, looked tense. “We were day fixed for submitting claims with
back” to Bangladesh or erst - what exactly had prompted his village is still called a colony. This requested. born and brought up here. We grew necessary documents for inclusion
while East Pakistan from where father Mahadeb to leave their despite the fact that Assam govern- The NRC is being updated in of names of those who were left out
their forefathers had migrated to ancestral home in East Pakistan ment provided us with this plot of Assam under the supervision of of the final NRC draft. “I don’t want
Assam in 1964 to “escape religious in 1964, he said it could be due to land in 2005, enrolled us in voters the Supreme Court with March More than 40 lakh my two daughters, Poonam (8) and
persecution.” harassment meted out to Hindus list in 1993 and even accepted us 24, 1971, as the cut-off date, which Shriya to face the same insult of
“We were certain that we will by Pakistani forces or the Muslims as scheduled tribes. But now how was decided in the historic Assam applicants being called Bangladeshis,” he said.
pass the NRC as we have relief in Erstwhile East Pakistan, which can we be left out of the NRC?” Accord of 1985 after the six-year- failed to make More than 40 lakh applicants
eligibility certificate in my father’s became Bangladesh in 1971. Hajong asked. long anti-foreigner movement. failed to make it to the draft NRC,
name issued by the government “I was too young to understand. Forefathers of most of the Indigenous people in Assam have it to the draft released on July 30, drawing sharp
of India in 1964. We had submitted But later I came to know that many Hajong and Bengali families who since been demanding update NRC, raising fears reactions from across the world.
the relief certificate as it is one of like my father had come here as live here now had taken shelter at of the NRC as they faced identity This also raised fears that those
the documents accepted for NRC the government of India assured Matia in Goalpara district in West crisis due to “unabated illegal that they could failing to prove their citizenship
update. But we were shocked to see them shelter and brought us as Assam and in Silchar in South migration” from Bangladesh be declared could be declared foreigners and
most of our villagers’ names miss- per an agreement between Indira Assam before they were shifted to through the porous India-Bang- rendered “stateless” as Bangladesh
ing from NRC,” Nimai Hajong (60) Gandhi and Mujibur Rahman, Bamungaon colony. ladesh borders. They said all post- foreigners have already rejected the allega-
told Tehelka, sitting with his father of Bangladesh. As we grew The story of Gunamoni Dalu, a 1971 migrants must be detected and tion that they had illegally migrated
wife Sinnibala at the courtyard up, we never considered India 70-year-old Hajong woman who deported to Bangladesh as agreed and rendered from their soil.
of his bamboo thatched house at to be a foreign country but we remained unmarried is equally in the Assam Accord which was ‘stateless’
Bamungaon. have always been taunted here as heart-wrenching. signed by former Prime Minister LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

TEHELKA / 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 48 WWW.TEHELKA.COM TEHELKA / 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 49 WWW.TEHELKA.COM

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