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HomePoliticsNeighbouring states fear influx of NRC rejects from Assam

Neighbouring states fear influx of NRC rejects from Assam

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States like Meghalaya and Manipur may see revival of inner line permit demand; additional forces deployed at interstate borders as precautionary steps.

New Delhi: With the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in Assam, neighbouring states such as Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya fear that suspected illegal immigrants, who could not make it to the list, will sneak into their territories.

Some political groups and civil society organisations claim that the northeast has seen a rise in the number of immigrants from Bangladesh since its creation in 1971.

The process of updating the NRC with 24 March, 1971 as the cut-off date was initiated following a Supreme Court order.

While the Narendra Modi government is yet to announce a concrete plan on the future of those who do not qualify the citizenship test, the Assam government has said illegal immigrants will lose their voting rights.

“Those failing to make it to the list will lose their fundamental and electoral rights and will only be retained on humanitarian grounds,” Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal said Wednesday.

Apart from Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in the northeast share a largely porous border with Bangladesh, making them vulnerable to infiltration.

Implementation of the inner line permit (ILP), though a colonial legacy, has been a long standing demand in states such as Manipur and Meghalaya to check what is seen as unrestricted entry of ‘outsiders’, especially illegal immigrants. Currently, ILP is required for entry into Nagaland (barring Dimapur district), Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Lauding the NRC exercise by the Assam government, Donald V. Thabah, secretary of the Khasi Students’ Union says many Bangladeshi migrants come to settle in Meghalaya after getting their domicile documents prepared in Assam, especially in districts such as Goalpara, Barpeta, Dhubri, Karimganj and Hailakandi. However, NRC has sparked fears of a huge influx from Assam into our state, he added.

The KSU has been pushing for an entry/exit rule for foreigners, similar to that of ILP, Thabah said.

“The government has promised to implement alternative measures like the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act and the Meghalaya (Benami Transactions Prohibitions) Act 2016, which have already been passed in the assembly,” Thabah told ThePrint.

“If these are implemented, then we’ll reconsider our demand for ILP,” he added.

In 2013, the KSU was at the forefront of a massive agitation for the implementation of ILP. The Centre eventually ruled it out on the grounds that it was ‘unconstitutional’.

To allay fears of an influx and as a precautionary measure, additional paramilitary personnel have been deployed at interstate border check points, along the National Highway 2 that connects Assam with Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

Although Manipur does not share a boundary with Bangladesh, it has seen a huge decadal growth of ‘outsiders’ in the state — 30-40 per cent of its total population, claims Elangbam Johnson of United Committee Manipur, a civil society organisation.

“Once the migrants are declared stateless citizens and in the absence of laws to protect Manipur, there will be a spillover into our state,” Johnson added.

A day after the NRC list came out in Assam, there was a fresh demand for extending the ILP norm to Dimapur district in Nagaland even as the newly inducted home minister Kuzholuzo Nienu assured that he would impose the permit before the upcoming assembly elections.

“There’s an apprehension that the influx will increase after the NRC list is published. We expect the Nagaland government to be more vigilant in the districts that come under ILP,” said Keso Christopher, president of the Naga Students Federation.

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