Foreword — Pradip Kumar Bhuyan
How did the NRC saga start in my life? I was deeply disturbed by the demographic changes taking place in Asom due to unabated influx from Bangladesh. They had political patronage and everyone was getting enrolled in the voter's list. It is an insidious invasion of our land, and political power seemed to be slipping away from the indigenous people.
The Assam Movement of 1979–1985 resulted in the signing of the Assam Accord 1985, but that could not change the ground situation even though a cut-off year for immigrants of 1971 was fixed. After signing the Assam Accord in 1985, there was a long gap — a sort of hibernation — and after twenty years, the Tripartite Agreement between All Assam Students' Union (AASU), All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), the Government of India and the Government of Assam was signed on 5th May 2005, stipulating that the NRC 1951 will be updated. After signing of the agreement, there was again a pause and nothing was moving. Those were the days without sunshine and joy.
Then sometime in 2008 a young man came to meet me — he introduced himself as Aabhijeet Sharma. Without much preamble he enquired if a case could be filed in the Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding the NRC. My response was an immediate 'yes'. I asked him to get me a copy of the 2004–2006 election data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) office. I had been pondering over the matter for some time and that is why I could give an immediate response to Aabhijeet.
Since 1971, Assam was undergoing a massive change of its demographic pattern and a political threat to its people. I am not a lawyer but I felt that if I could place a petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court focusing on the abnormal growth rate of Assam's voter's list since 1971 — that the illegal post-1971 Bangladeshis were poised to wield political power in Assam in an insidious attack over the years — then I was confident this situation would surely violate many provisions of the Constitution of India, which the Hon'ble Supreme Court could not ignore. This was the basic thrust of the petition.
We filed the petition on 25th July 2009, as Writ Petition (Civil) 274/2009, and the petition came before the Chief Justice of India Shri K.G. Balakrishnan. It was a tense moment for us as many PILs are rejected by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Aabhijeet and some of his colleagues were inside the court room; I was outside, waiting and praying — and at last Aabhijeet came out with a big smile. The case had been admitted.
I did not wish my name to be associated with the case, and it remained so as the case progressed for quite some time. However, the veil of secrecy was eventually lifted on social media by Mrinal Talukdar — a writer, journalist and the founder of the Nanda Talukdar Trust. His revelation received extensive coverage. There was much speculation about the financial burden of the case. To fight a case in the Supreme Court is a costly affair. But in this case the petition was written by me — I also wrote some of the various additional affidavits. We did not hire expensive lawyers except on one or two occasions, specifically for important hearings, and the affidavits were filed by lawyers who charged affordable fees. Frequent commuting to Delhi and the stay in Delhi were major expenditures, but by grace of the Almighty I could see the case through till 2013–14, when the CJI took over the implementation of the NRC process in his own hand.
In connection with the case, it will be amiss not to mention the names of Ms. Shalini Chandra and Arvind Kumar Sharma, advocates of the Supreme Court. During our petition, they not only espoused the spirit of the case but fought it with zeal and passion, charging minimum legal fees.
My wife, late Banti Bhuyan, was aware of the existential threat to the people of Assam because of the insidious invasion of lakhs and lakhs of post-1971 Bangladeshis. She played an active role in the pursuit of an updated NRC and was an inspiration for all.
I distanced myself from the NRC Writ Petition in the year 2014 when the Hon'ble Supreme Court took over the NRC process directly under its wings for implementation of the updation process. During the period of the case between 2009 to 2014, I found Aabhijeet Sharma to be a capable petitioner. After 2014, he has given many statements about NRC and related issues and also filed an affidavit about the case — these are expressions of his views.
I have written this book with an open mind, keeping what I think is in Assam's best interest — I humbly pray to be forgiven for any omissions and commissions.
I was seventy-three when we filed WP(C) 274/2009 to update the NRC 1951. I am eighty-eight now — a long odyssey for a lifetime. The NRC is now before the Hon'ble Supreme Court for issues like re-verification and partial re-verification. But I am happy that Assam has got a worthwhile NRC 2019 because of hidden factors which I want to share with the readers of this book. I can only pray that overzealousness for complete re-verification does not push the NRC to a timeless abyss and kill it — if this happens, it will be the saddest day for Assam, and posterity will not excuse us.
The Post-1971 Bangladeshis — A Note on Perception
It is an accepted fact that this group of Bangladeshis are here to stay. The "Deportation" provision of the Assam Accord is now a nonstarter. Over the past decades, these people did not get proper education for their children, proper health care, women's empowerment, or other social upliftment programmes. Women are uneducated; child marriage and polygamy are the norms of this post-1971 immigrant society.
Over the decades, children grew up without proper education and joined the vast Bangladeshi workforce for agriculture and all kinds of development works like road building and construction. A very large segment became anti-social elements, creating a serious crime scenario in Assam.
It is the responsibility of the State, irrespective of political differences, to provide equal educational facilities to these children — boys and girls — at par with the rest of the state; good health care facilities; and strong women's empowerment programmes. All children going to school will bring about a change in the atmosphere of households over the years. The boys and girls must have the education to become doctors, teachers, lawyers, and engineers. This development is also in the interest of the greater Assamese society.
Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam, has already taken up the issues of education of Bangladeshi children and the abolition of child marriage in Assam. A comprehensive strategy for the development of the community seems to be in the pipeline, encompassing legal measures to abolish polygamy. He is also strongly tackling the issue of radicalism and the issue of infiltration by Jehadi groups amongst a small segment of the Bangladeshis.
The post-1971 Bangladeshi residents and their descendants are foreigners and are not eligible for voting rights, ever.