Of no fixed abode: Former ward commissioner from Bongaigaon, left out of NRC, intends to fight for 'genuine citizens'

Editor’s Note: Of the 4 million who didn’t make it to NRC, 2.48 lakh have been marked as ‘D’ voters. The Supreme Court has asked Assam government not to take any coercive action on those who are found to be without proper documents as required under recent National Register of Citizens. NRC, a product of Assam Accord, is expected to solve the fear of Bangladeshi immigrants that has been prevalent in the state for quite some time now. The Centre proposed in 1999 an updated NRC in Assam to solve the problem of “illegal immigration” and two pilot projects were conducted in Dhubri and Barpeta districts. But breaking out of a riot in Barpeta grounded the project. In 2005, when All Assam Student Union opposed the prime minister’s visit to the state, tripartite talk between AASU, State government, and the Centre resulted in a decision to prepare a model for the NRC process, which was delayed yet again by over 5 years by the state government. It was only when Abhijeet Sharma of Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO, filed a writ petition in 2009 that the SC’s direct intervention led to the start of NRC process in 2014. Firstpost will run a series which will feature  30 profiles in 30 days  of those residents of Assam who have not been covered under the final draft of NRC which will decide if they continue to live in the state that they call ‘home’.

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Bongaigaon: Samrat Bhowal made history when he was elected the youngest ward commissioner in the 2009 municipal polls in Bongaigaon district of Assam. A prominent figure in local politics, Bhowal has since then also established himself as a leader of the Bengali community in the region. But the 36-year-old was in for a rude shock when he found his name missing from the second and final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on 30 July.

“I had not expected to be left out of the list. I’m very disappointed. I had submitted all necessary documents required to prove my citizenship. Could I have held an elected post if I was not even a citizen of this country?” says Bhowal, his voice choking with emotion.

Bhowal had fought on a Congress ticket and won a seat in the municipal polls in 2009 with a record margin. In 2011, he was elected the Youth President of Bodoland People’s Front in the district.

Later, Bhowal decided to take a break from politics and started working towards the welfare of Bengali Hindu residents of the state under the aegis of All Assam Bengali Youth Students’ Federation, an organisation where he serves as General Secretary.

Bhowal says that Bengali-speaking residents of Bongaigaon are a linguistic minority and are often labeled as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh due to their linguistic and cultural similarities to people from the neighbouring country.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Bongaigaon, Babulal Sharma, 78 percent people from the district have been included in the final draft of the NRC.

This includes Bhowal’s wife Shubhra. The 33-year-old is the daughter of Mohit Ranjan Sarbabaidya, owner of the oldest fair price shop in Bongaigaon, which was allotted by the then Assam government in 1966.

Shubhra says, “I don’t know how this happened. My name was there in the first list of NRC but it is not there in the final draft.”

Bhowal says that his family’s fight for citizenship status has been a long-drawn one.

Bhowal’s father, Sridam, who was born in Dhaka in 1944 moved to Assam as an eight-year-old in 1952 soon after India’s independence, and was included in the voter list in 1961. But the transition was not smooth, says Bhowal, adding that both his parents fought cases in the Foreigners’ Tribunal to prove their status as Indian citizens.

“My mother was suspected to be an illegal immigrant in 2003, while the same charges cropped up against my father in 2008. My mother was certified as an Indian national in 2004 and father in 2013 from the Foreigners’ Tribunal court,” he says.

Bhowal says that the voter list in many districts of Assam has not been updated, so people do not have voter identity cards to show as proof to get their names into the NRC.

“We had gone to the election office last year to procure the election certificate from 1961 to show that my father was a voter. But we were given the list from 1971 as the deputy commissioner told us that data had been damaged and was being restored. How can the government initiate the process of NRC without having the complete record of voter lists in Assam?” he asks.

Bhowal may have suffered a setback but it has only made his intent to fight for people’s rights stronger. He is now helping others like him whose names have not appeared in the NRC.

“I’m fighting for genuine citizens of India to be recognised. There are people who were orphaned at a very young age and don’t have identity proofs. There are some retired employees of Indian railways in this area who have lost their documents in accidents and thus could not make it to the list. I’m helping them collect documents to establish their identity,” Bhowal says.

Read previous parts of the series —

Of no fixed abode: Assam NRC turns Jorhat’s oldest bookstore owner into a ‘foreigner’ overnight

Of no fixed abode: Off NRC after living in Assam for 100 years, teacher’s family says govt harassing genuine citizens

Of no fixed abode: Named in first NRC, missing in final draft, former MLA claims he was left out ‘intentionally’

(Syeda Ambia Zahan is a Guwahati-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)