The problem with nrc pledge of BJP
The BJP’s attempt to make the contentious National Register of Citizens into an election issue in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls is myopic and has the potential to create a communal divide. The party in its manifesto, which it is calling the Sankalp Patra, has promised to introduce NRC in the entire country while its president Amit Shah doesn’t fail to drive home this point when campaigning in the Northeast or in West Bengal, where the most number of illegal immigrants reside.
While there can be no two opinions on the need to identify those who are living in India illegally, the issue is that such an exercise has the potential to create huge problems for the common folk—just to prove that they are bona fide Indian citizens. The government and the BJP should not forget the experience of Assam, where thousands of bona fide Indian citizens were left out of the draft NRC just because they did not have in their possession some legacy document or the other.
Until only about 10-15 years ago when the government started strictly enforcing the need to register births, deaths and marriages, most people skipped it. Crores of Indians did not consider such registrations essential. For this the government is equally to blame. Until about two decades ago, banks and passport offices used to accept wedding cards as proof of marriage. A Class X certificate containing date of birth was considered by authorities as a valid document to prove one’s age. If all such people were asked to furnish their marriage or birth certificates, they are bound to be left in the lurch. With no clarity on such crucial aspects, the promise to extend the NRC exercise to the rest of the country is likely to raise a lot of fear of victimisation among the people.
Another aspect that is likely to pose a huge problem is that of deportation once illegal immigrants have been identified. Here again there is no clarity on what has to be done with those declared “foreigners”. It is better a clear policy is worked out before such promises are made.