Government mulling 'work permit' idea to deal with those who fail to make it to NRC in Assam

NEW DELHI: Among a host of options to deal with those who do not make it to the national register of citizens (NRC), the home ministry is looking at a proposal to grant ‘work permits’ to people living in Assam who do not qualify as Indian citizens for inclusion in the NRC, according to government sources.

The proposal, which is still under discussion, if accepted will enable those delisted as citizens to continue to live and work in Assam even as they would be barred from voting, as against being deported to another country, as the ruling BJP has been threatening.

The ministry sources agree that, no country would be willing to accept illegal migrants who have crossed over and hence there would be no place for these people be sent away. "Some alternative will have to work out," according to a government source.

Detection and deportation of illegal immigrants was one of the key demands by agitating students of all Assam student's union(AASU), Assam who had finally ended their agitation with the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. The Accord provided for the Centre to detect, delete from the voters’ list and deport those who entered Assam after March 1971.

The final draft of the NRC for Assam published on July 30, excluded 40 lakh people, which has created an unprecedented social and political turmoil in the state. The register is since being updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court in a process that involves filing of claims and objections with the state coordinator of the NRC by those who have been left out.

"A final decision on how to deal with those who fail to qualify as citizens will emerge as we get closer to the date," a government source said, when asked about the situation.

The proposal to grant work permits to those identified as illegal migrants is not a new idea. It was examined in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA regime when the home ministry was under the then deputy PM LK Advani. The proposal went on the back-burner, after the Congress-led UPA came to office in 2004, after the Vajpayee regime.

The Narendra Modi government’s decision to allow minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis from neighbouring countries - Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan - to apply for Indian citizenship may also come to the aid of many who are left out of the NRC, according to ministry sources dealing with the issue. But, Asom Gana Parishad, born out of AASU, which led the Assam agitation in the 1980s, and other organizations have objected to this proposed change.

In fact, AGP leader Prafulla Mahanta, a coalition partner of the ruling BJP in Assam has threatened to pull out of the alliance if the Citizenship Act is brought about.

This situation will make it politically difficult for the ruling BJP to push the Citizenship Act, even as party chief Amit Shah has consistently harped on it.

Those opposed to the Citizenship Act say, "the 1985 Assam Accord would be rendered null and void if people who are minorities in the neighbouring countries are allowed to become citizens in Assam.