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ASIAN DRAMA
Syed
NooruzzamaN
The columnist — former
Deputy Editor of The
Tribune, Chandigarh —
specialises in foreign
affairs. With a career
spanning 41 years, he
keeps close watch on
issues related to South
Asian countries. The
views expressed are
personal
A Bangladesh
official recently
said his country was
reassured by the
explanations given
by India that the
implementation of
the NRC in Assam is
an internal matter
but added that Dhaka
will keep a close eye
on developments
Foreign aFFairs
NRC: Hasina’s recent guage and culture had no role to play
in the situation that led to the birth of
visit to India and after Bangladesh in 1971?
Thousands of those who did not
speak Bengali were tortured and done
to death in the then East Pakistan at
With 1.9 million not finding their names in the final NRC list, it is a the hands of Bengali-speaking people.
challenge for India to ensure that the issue of illegal Bangladeshis Persecution of Urdu-speaking people
called “Biharis” there is a too well-
does not damage the friendly relations between the two countries known reality. People in Bangladesh
even now hate Urdu, considering it as
the language of their subjugation in
hat transpired However, Sheikh Hasina made a the past.
between Prime Min- significant point soon after she landed The harrowing experience of the
ister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Addressing a meeting of people in Assam should convince us to
and his Bangladesh the World Economic Forum on October forget about launching another NRC
counterpart Sheikh 4, she suggested, “We should strive to process in the country. The search for
W Hasina during her secure peace, stability and harmony for • Relations intact Modi told Hasina that the undocumented Bangladeshis in this
recent visit to India evoked more than every individual across our societies. manner will amount to an invitation
usual interest as the process of prepar- We must move beyond the majority- NRC is an internal matter of India to chaos and destabilisation which will
ing the National Register of Citizens minority mindset. Pluralism has been ultimately shake the country by its very
(NRC) in Assam had just ended with 1.9 the strength of South Asian countries. foundations.
million people not finding their names We should be able to celebrate South Tribunals set up for the purpose. If any- have also been subjected to persecu- Can we ignore the strong opposi-
included in the final NRC. It was a big Asia’s regional, ethnic and linguistic one loses one’s case in a tribunal, the tion in these countries because of tion being expressed by the Asom Gan
challenge for India to ensure that the diversity.” person concerned can file an appeal various factors, including the language Parishad, the All-Assam Students Un-
issue of illegal Bangladeshis did not By highlighting the “majority-minor- in the Guwahati High Court and the they speak. There is no mention of ion, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti
damage the friendly relations between ity mindset” factor she, perhaps, wanted Supreme Court. Those who ultimately even Ahmediyas too in the Bill, which, and others to the idea of favouring any
the two countries. to point out that this had been used fail to prove their claim as Indian after an amendment, will reduce the community by describing its members
Sheikh Hasina told media persons recklessly to ensure political domina- nationals will be lodged in detention requirement of 11 years of continuous as persecuted people? These Assam-
at a reception at the Bangladesh High tion, not bothering about its impact camps so that they can be deported to stay in the country to six years for enti- based organisations have stated that
Commission that she saw “no problem” on peace and economic growth in the their “home country”. tlement to get Indian citizenship. the Citizenship Amendment Bill will go
with the NRC exercise in Assam. Her region. This raises a very tricky question. Union Home Minister Amit Shah against the cultural and linguistic iden-
friendly remark was, “I had a talk with Bangladesh expressed its concern Where will these people finally go has tried to clarify this point on differ- tity of the ethnic Assamese. The Assam
PM Modi. Everything is okay.” over the Assam NRC process for the when Bangladesh continues to assert ent occasions by saying that people Gan Parishad has threatened to even
Modi had reportedly assured her that first time when its Foreign Minister AK that there are no undocumented Bang- belonging to these denominations leave the political alliance formed with
there was “nothing to be worried” about Abdul Momen told a TV channel on July ladeshis in India? As it appears, the need not worry about their citizenship the BJP if its viewpoint is not given the
the NRC as India would not do any- 13, 2018: “While we should not be wor- country is heading for a major human status as a result of the NRC wher- attention it deserves.
ever and whenever it is set in motion.
ried (about the NRC issue), there is some
Many Opposition parties, including
thing that could harm its relations with
crisis. It may become a big roadblock
Bangladesh. anxiety after reading news reports. We in the economic growth process When he says this he only reiterates the Congress and the All-India United
Democratic Front, have also opposed
Contrary to what she said in New
the promise made by his party, the BJP,
which calls for urgent attention of the
are already in much difficulty with 11
Delhi, her remarks after the two leaders lakh (Rohingya) refugees. We can’t take government. in its election manifesto in 2014 that the idea of granting citizenship to any-
Reports indicate that the govern-
met in New York on the sidelines of the anymore. ment is ready to handle the situation Hindus persecuted in the countries one on the basis of a person’s religious
Bangladesh is the most densely
identity. The argument goes that once
UN General Assembly session were that
in India’s neighbourhood would be
the NRC in Assam had become a mat- populated country on the planet.” by coming up with the Citizenship granted citizenship. the Bill becomes an Act, it will make
But can we call it justice if the
Denying that the people identified
ter of “great concern” for Bangladesh. under the NRC process were Bangla- (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was government bestows its favour on all the NRC meaningless. It will turn out as
a remedy worse than the disease.
earlier adopted by the Lok Sabha but
Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New
Delhi may have lessened Bangla- deshi immigrants, he said, “The people could not get through the Rajya Sabha. excepting Muslims? If we have a close Why then is the talk of launching
desh’s anxiety as, according to Bang- that have been there for 75 years, they The Bill seeks to amend the Citizen- look at the history of persecution of an NRC process in West Bengal, UP
humans by humans, we will realise
ladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul
and Haryana, which went to the polls
ship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to
are their (India’s) citizens, not ours.”
Haque, his country was assured by India This shows that the people in Assam illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, that religion has not been the only recently? Is the idea aimed at creating
that the implementation of the NRC whose names have not been included Bangladesh and Pakistan if they are factor behind such developments. communal polarisation for political
in Assam was an internal matter. Yet
in the NRC may remain where they
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis
gains irrespective of the damage it will
Language and culture have also been
he indicated that Dhaka would keep a are. They, however, remain anxiety- or Christians by describing them as used for the persecution of people in cause to the country?
different parts of the world.
ridden despite the fact that they have
persecuted communities. However,
close watch on all kinds of NRC-related
developments. the option of approaching Foreigners there is no provision for Muslims, who Can anyone deny the fact that lan- letters@tehelka.com
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