Wrong turn, Khattar: Haryana does not need an NRC. It needs a government that realises its immense potential

With just a year for his tenure to end, Haryana chief minister ML Khattar’s promise of an Assam-like National Register of Citizens would certainly come as a surprise to the state’s residents. Putting Haryana’s people through the hardship of proving their citizenship without any valid reason to do so would be worse than demonetisation, that unqualified disaster. In contrast, the Union government opted for the NRC when inking the 1985 Assam Accord to stem years of violence and genuine concerns over illegal migration from Bangladesh.

Haryana, landlocked by other Indian states, must count its blessings instead of its citizens. Proximity to the national capital and an impressive industrial and agricultural base have helped the state surge forward. Diverting resources, bureaucracy and political focus at this point to a frivolous NRC instead of training guns on social and educational backwardness would be a misguided step. In a document poor country, the pitfalls of subjecting the entire populace to a citizenship test will be error-ridden, inconclusive, and violative of rights.

Local police with their network of informants and contacts can effectively check for illegal migrants in routine fashion without the massive disruption that an NRC would entail. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may talk about “ease of living”, but that isn’t preventing BJP leaders from peddling maximalist, big-state solutions whose biggest outcome will be impeding people in their daily lives. Ironically Khattar was speaking in Gurgaon, a city that migrants helped build in equal measure with their sweat, toil and intellect. BJP president Amit Shah’s new political discourse on infiltrators looms large in the background. Whether or not Khattar’s talk about NRC is a red herring to head off anti-incumbency, this is one election promise one fervently hopes will remain a jumla.