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OpiniOn
Mere birth shall not be
linked to citizenship
Though those excluded from the NRC will get second chance to
dilemmas prove their citizenship but it will be a tedious process. Does the es-
tablishment expect marginalised people to keep their birth records?
HumrA
QurAISHI
he threw the sari end healers and health care givers for those
on her shoulders, as the falling ill or slowly dying because of
The Delhi-based writer knocks on the door of her the severity of the sarkaar - induced
and columnist’s books dwelling intensified…ac- shockers.
include Kashmir: The celerating by the second. Though those excluded from the NRC
Untold Story. She co- S Till, of course, she was are given a second chance to prove their
authored a series of there, on the muddy-filthy patch, just Indian citizenship but this in itself is a
writings with the late outside the door. Looking about hassled very tedious process. Does the estab-
Khushwant Singh and and hyper, as her ageing husband sat lishment expect these marginalised
her short stories are back on that filth, with just about lisping, people to be keeping papers and records
part of anthologies. “Papers...they want to see papers to of their births or of their ancestral
The views expressed prove that we were born here!” backgrounders? Tomorrow, if the NRC
are her own “What!” she could barely quiver. were to conduct citizenship surveys
“To prove you and I belong to this in other states of the country, civil war
land, otherwise we will be thrown out… could spread out. If lakhs and lakhs of
our names are not in that list of citizens human beings were to be unaccepted
Do not know what would happen to us?” as Indian citizens, then what happens to
“But don’t you know last year’s floods their lives. Are we going to deport lakhs
ruined all our belongings, boxes washed because they cannot prove that they
away and so …” belong to this land?
“Now…the whole village knows but To quote Professor VK Tripathi, who
not the sarkaar (government)! We are until very recently was teaching Physics
ruined …we would be thrown into the at IIT Delhi. He also runs the Sadbhav
sea or jungles or killed.” Her husband Mission and has been focusing on the
couldn’t utter any further as by then he Assam crisis. “Son of the soil is not the
had collapsed. one born in the soil of the nation, but
Hundreds and thousands of Assam’s the one who lives in the soil, works in
residents are slowly dying every single the soil, feeds the nation with food and
day, even before getting deported. After comforts and shares ups and downs
all, in the latest draft of Assam’s National with the people around. Be they Hindus
Register of Citizens, names of 40 lakh or Muslims, speaking Assamese, Bangla,
people are not included. Yes, 12 per cent Bodo, Hindi or any other language, all
of Assam’s population has been left out. working class masses are true sons
The sheer shock of being off the of the soil, children of India. They are
citizens’ list would be enough to kill. born here, their forefathers lived here
Though till date no health-related for millennia, they laid their sweat and
research has been conducted on these blood in the soil here and contributed
40 lakh residents of Assam, to study the half of their earnings to the nation. The
rising numbers hit by heart attacks or piece of land where they live belongs
diabetes or blood pressure levels, but to them. They never grabbed or robbed
this could be a very important finding. any one’s property, but fallen prey many
Also, it would be significant to know if a times to the exploiters and oppressors.
the sarkaar of the day has appointed They have the fundamental right to live
Tehelka / 31 august 2018 38 www.Tehelka.com
