Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has reignited controversy over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), asserting that individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants could still be deported to Bangladesh, even if their names appear in the NRC.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Sarma said the state had deported 19 people on Tuesday and anticipated at least nine more would be sent back the following day. He insisted that inclusion in the NRC would not prevent deportation if authorities had “reasonable grounds” to suspect a person was in India illegally.
“Many names were manipulatively and cleverly included in the NRC,” Sarma alleged, suggesting widespread fraud during the update process. He claimed that people from various districts orchestrated false familial connections to secure inclusion in the list.
The NRC, finalized in August 2019, was intended to identify Indian citizens residing in Assam and weed out undocumented immigrants. The process, which required individuals to prove ancestry in Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971, left over 1.9 million people—around 5.77% of applicant, off the final list.
Despite its intention to provide clarity on citizenship, Sarma expressed skepticism over the NRC’s credibility. “Personally, I am not convinced that the presence of a name in the NRC alone is enough to determine that someone is not an illegal immigrant,” he said.
The Chief Minister also took aim at civil society figures, notably human rights activist Harsh Mander, whom he accused of influencing the NRC process. Sarma claimed that Mander, who spent two years in Assam, and others trained people in the United States and the UK on how to exploit the system, calling it part of a broader “conspiracy.”
Mander responded sharply, stating that Sarma had threatened to jail him for advocating justice for people with disputed citizenship status. “If this is a crime, Mr. CM, by all means take action against me,” Mander said, defending his work for those held indefinitely in detention centres.
The issue of citizenship in Assam remains deeply contentious. While the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act in October allowing migrants who entered Assam between 1966 and 1971 to apply for citizenship many indigenous groups oppose the provision, viewing it as legitimizing migration from Bangladesh.
Sarma also confirmed that Assam has deported 303 individuals so far under the 1950 Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, following a Supreme Court directive from February urging swift deportations of declared foreigners. These individuals were identified by the state’s Foreigners Tribunals, which have come under fire for alleged bias and inconsistency. Reports indicate that some were labeled foreigners due to minor discrepancies in documentation or lapses in memory.
Amid a rise in detentions since late May, several families have reported not knowing the whereabouts of their detained relatives. In some cases, they identified them in videos from Bangladesh and alleged they were deported without due process.
Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia has condemned the state government’s actions, alleging they disproportionately target Muslim communities and undermine India’s secular values.
Despite mounting criticism, Sarma maintained that deportations would continue, describing them as a legal and necessary step to address what he views as an ongoing issue of illegal migration into the state.
