NRC in Assam: A Saga of Never-Ending Controversy

A new FIR has been filed against corruption and money laundering during the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update process in Assam. The FIR filed by Gitika Bhattacharya, a Guwahati-based social worker, in her complaint at Dispur police station, alleges that government officials, private parties, and individuals were involved in the scam. It also says that 8,000 contractual workers were exploited during the process.Bhattacharya in her complaint, filed on July 13, 2023, categorically mentioned that contractual workers were denied monthly salaries during the process of NRC updation.

Bhattacharya's FIR is the fifth one that has been filed against the former NRC State coordinator Prateek Hajela and it has added a fresh dimension to the NRC update row. Hajela was appointed to look after the massive exercise under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court of India. Around 50,000 government employees and a few thousand contractual data entry operators (DEOs) were engaged in the exercise. 

The NRC updation process began in 2014 and culminated with the publication of a final draft in 2019, but that is yet to be endorsed by the Registrar General of India.

Earlier, alleging corruption by Hajela and also the inclusion of a large number of illegal Bangladeshi migrant’s names in the NRC draft, the senior officer’s immediate successor Hitesh Devsarma filed two complaints before the Assam CID on May 19, 2022, and Assam Police Vigilance & Anti-corruption cell on June 13, 22. Devsarma was followed by Abhijeet Sharma (lodging an FIR in Paltan Bazar police station on October 14, 20 22) and Luit Kumar Barman (filed another complaint in the same police station of Guwahati on  Oct 19, 20 22). But not a single FIR has been registered, even though the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG, the highest audit body of the world’s largest democracy) also recommended penal actions against Hajela.

Demanding a complete re-verification of the NRC draft and also appropriate actions against all the individuals who were involved in the intentional inclusion of illegal people's names in it, the Bharat Raksha Manch (Save India Forum, a non-government organisation) emphasized a correct NRC for Assam and punishment against the guilty individuals involved in money laundering to the tune of Rs 2600 million. 

Submitting a memorandum to Assam Governor at Raj Bhawan, the nationalist forum appealed to him for pursuing the NRC issue with the Union government in New Delhi. Governor Gulab Chand Kataria was also urged by the delegation, led by Suryakanta Kelkar and Dwijendra N Barthakur, to initiate an affidavit to be filed by the State government before the apex court seeking its re-verification.

The Assam agitation (1979 to 1985) to identify and deport illegal immigrants culminated with an accord with the federal government (in the presence of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) where the influx up to 24 March 1971 was unfortunately resolved to get regularized. But the illegal immigration from present-day Bangladesh continued and currently the indigenous people of Assam are on the verge of being a minority in their homeland. 

Patriotic People’s Front Assam, a forum of nationalist citizens, also demanded that the DEOs should be awarded the outstanding amount of money by the concerned authorities. The NRC authority spent a sum of Rs 1600 crore in the four-year-long exercise where the system integrator (Wipro Limited) had the responsibility to supply DEOs, but it engaged one sub-contractor (Integrated System and Services) which paid a DEO Rs 5,500 to 9,100 per month (shockingly it’s below the country’s basic minimum wages).

Months ago, social media users in Assam named and shamed three Guwahati-based television editor-journalists as beneficiaries of the NRC scam. The journalists have not responded to the allegations, and have largely gone silent.

These scribes shamelessly praised Hajela as an extraordinary officer and pronounced the draft as the best one for the Assamese people. The latest FIR has mentioned some other persons (besides Hajela), who might be involved in the scam. Nonetheless, the DEOs must be offered their dues according to the laws irrespective of the fate of NRC for Assam (whether it is accepted, reverified or rejected). Their cumulative dues will be over Rs 1000 million, which is still in somebody’s pockets.

Nava Thakuriya is a senior journalist based in Guwahati.