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10 reasons why NRC is a nightmare for Bengalis of Assam

By Adwoy Purkayastha

Since the time NRC (National Register of Citizens) proceedings started in Assam, the mood of the state especially in the Bengali populated areas has been tensed at best and suicidal at worst. The fear of being called Bangladeshi and thrown to a detention camp has conquered every Bengali in Assam and they are ready to do anything to get their name listed in the NRC draft. There is no logical explanation of what is happening, why an applicant from Hailakandi is called in a centre far away in Narshingpur while there are centers in Hailakandi too. Why are notices served untimely, why is Tarak Paul written as Tar Kapaul… All this inconsistencies and many more is keeping Barak Valley awake all night and if they manage to get sleep, the NRC nightmare awakens them.

Here we give you 10 reasons why NRC is a nightmare for Bengalis..

  1. Complicated Form: There are thousand boxes and 100 questions that one needs to fill in the boxes. Many of the applicants don’t even know to write their name. Even for literates, filling NRC forms is a very difficult task. It needs expert’s explanations. There were reports of people taking money to fill NRC forms…
  1. Submission during working hours: Now once you have managed to duly fill the form to submit it to the NSK, you need to take a leave or shut your shop and lose your daily earnings. Barak Valley has very limited number of people working on payroll rest all run small shop or business or are the labours working on daily wages. All need to find a way out to go and submit the form, for many it might as well mean sleeping hungry.
  1. The List With No Names: After filling forms and submitting it, if you thought you are done, well no… When the first draft came out in dark hours of late night, Barak Valley and Bengali populated areas were left shocked. Hardly any name featured on the list and panic button got pressed. Indian Army was deployed to avoid an untoward incident.
  1. Verification of Family Tree: One of the most complex and unorganised process ever… One must be present in person for Family Tree verification, a process which is done in NSKs. So, travel to the centre all the way, attend in person and the officials will ask a question or two and then hand you over a paper to sign. That’s nothing but harassment of travelling a thousand mile. Farmer rally in Mumbai becomes headline in all dailies next day and travelling to NRC center is equally tedious for some and it is certain that many blisters are going unnoticed.
  1. The NRC centers: You have a center next door, but you will get called in a center miles away. So, whenever there is a dispute a notice is sent to the address of the applicant, the notice states which center the applicant needs to appear and when. A dispute in a form of resident of Hailakandi is settled in a center in Narshingpur, while there are centers in Hailakandi too. There is no logical explanation of why the applicant needs to travel from one place to the other. Remember not all can afford transportation and hence few even walk miles…
  1. Names: In Silchar Sachin scores a century, in Guwahati he becomes ‘Chochin’ as Assamese has no ‘S’ in their script and it’s pronounced as ‘C’. Now that confusion in dialects coupled with irresponsible employees involved in the NRC proceedings has resulted in severe spelling mistakes. At least 80 per cent Bengali names are misspelled and today those names do rounds as ‘Memes’ in social media. One popular example is, Tarak Paul, Tarak is a common Bengali name, it appeared on the draft as ‘Tar Kopal’ Yes it’s a matter of laughter, but the man would know what he is going through.
  1. Fake or Real No Difference: There is no provision for separate treatment for those who go with a fake legacy data and family tree and those who go with the correct one. At least somewhere in India we found equality… the problem is it’s not right to treat offenders and innocents in the same manner. The one committing forgery makes life difficult for the ones with the real data…
  1. Notice: Notice is meant to notify a person about an event before the event is scheduled, so that the person, the notice is served is well prepared. Notice in NRC proceedings have a totally different definition. You might get a notice today that you will have to appear in a center 100 miles away the very next day. None of the notices are served timely leading to serious chaos in people…
  1. Troubled housewives: About 29 lakh housewives have to go through the pain of traveling to the center and appearing before the designated officer. The ones who submitted Panchayat Certificates and Circle Officer Certificates need to appear before the designated officer in person as a part of the protocol.
  1. Detention camp or Bangladesh: The biggest nightmare… the fear of being adjudged as foreigners is giving people sleepless nights. There are stories of detention camp all around which states the people in detention camp are all Indians and victim of bureaucratic tyranny…

What will happen at last no one knows, but what is happening at this moment is certainly not right. Indians are getting harassed in India…

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