Nearly 2 Million People in India Could Lose Citizenship in Biggest Disenfranchisement in History

Nearly 2 million people in the northeast state of Assam are at risk of being rendered stateless in India after the government published its National Register of Citizens list Saturday. The highly contested register was first created in 1951 and lists people who are able to prove they came to the state by March 24, 1971 — the day before neighboring Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, declared independence from Pakistan. The Indian government says the list helps identify Bangladeshi migrants who are not legal residents. Critics have denounced the register as an attempt to deport millions of Muslims. Residents suspected of being foreigners can be rounded up and sent to prison camps. Assam residents were in shock after the NRC was published. Assam residents who do not appear on the list have 120 days to appeal their exclusion before so-called foreigner tribunals. We speak with award-winning Indian author and journalist Siddhartha Deb, who was born in northeast India. “It’s become this incredible exercise in disenfranchisement,” he says. “The process has been riven with confusion, with arbitrariness for the past few years.”

#DemocracyNow

FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:

[Q]

Wow, they're taking cues from the US :(

[starcrib]

insanity. another man made assault on humanity .

[EnzoVecchiaio]

Religion: one of the prime drivers of human fragmentation from one another, and ultimately, from the rest of the biosphere.

[WeltschmerzvonGavagai]

Sometimes i feel embarrassed living on this planet

[glassplotful]

It's *not* the obligation of India, or any state, to provide shelter to illegal immigrants. Any benefits afforded to these non-Indian immigrants are a _privilege_, not a right.

[derekmulready]

And all this from a "NUCLEAR Capable Nation " ??
Irish Citizen

[stephenarling]

"Kafkaesque" says it perfectly. A waking nightmare for innocent people.

[mohammadzubayer]

They are living in India for 50 yard suddenly their citizenship taken, they want to take revenge of Muslim ruling India for 900 years now after 70 years they are implementing their Hindu as a sate religion.

[shubhamntpc]

Those who are saying this is inhumanity, and all, I would like to say please give them shelter in your country..We have already 1.3b population!

Thanks

[saeedbashatah]

We are ready to welcome all Muslim Indians to come to our country with giving them free education on many fields, mainly Islamic studies and an employment that necessarily covers their basic livelihood. Since they met oppressions and persecutions in their native country, Islam orders them to flee to other Islamic countries for starting good hopes for their livelihood.

[Xandrosi]

I'd love to read why someone gave this article a thumbs down!

[sehbakhan]

Horrific and so inhuman .. but that is the tag line of the BJP/ RSS ... people of this country have voted and brought them in, because this is what they want ... the economy etc has no bearing or importance.

[motokx]

Out of all the nations with Nuclear weapons im most worried about Israel being the first to start a nuclear war.

[aneeshprasobhan]

what is the alternative then ? Leave them without ID papers ?

[reeshabhjain]

People who came before 1971 are considered Indian citizens

people who came between 1971-1999 have a chance to get citizenship

people who came after 1999 will surely be kicked out

[robroy]

Find someway to California and you hit the lottery.

[Sydney_With_A_Why]

Idk, well over two million peeple have been purged from American voter rolls illegally just this month, so it's not really the BIGGEST disenfranchisement, is it?

[Neb.]

😢😡Why such evil hate arising in a fury around the globe. Angels are coming

[ideabox]

It's totally India's internal matter:India foreign minister. Thanks.

[drejlangseth]

I continue to be astonished at countries that can spend funds on rockets/satellites/moon-bound robotics, rather than on their residents literacy and health. How hyandpocratic : USA, South Africa, Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, etc. I'm troubled having been students in grad with several on
f We concocted magic wand Democracies