Guwahati, Sep 1 (V7N) — The contentious issue of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has resurfaced in eastern India, with fresh developments unfolding in Assam and Manipur.

In Manipur, a growing movement is demanding that the 1951 NRC be updated ahead of the 2027 Census. At the same time, the Supreme Court of India has admitted a petition seeking a review of the NRC updated in Assam, which has not yet received formal endorsement from the Registrar General of India (RGI). The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has also reportedly registered a case over alleged financial irregularities in the Assam NRC updating exercise conducted between May 2014 and October 2019.

Adding to the debate, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated the central government's commitment on August 26 to deal firmly with illegal migrants in accordance with the law.

Addressing a conference in New Delhi attended by senior officials from security agencies, Central Armed Police Forces, and police chiefs of states and Union Territories, Shah said illegal entrants would be dealt with under the applicable law. Against this backdrop, speculation has grown that the government could undertake a nationwide exercise to identify unauthorised migrants.

Demand for NRC in Manipur

Manipur, which has witnessed recurring violence since May 2023, has recently seen a series of large public demonstrations demanding that the NRC be updated before the 2027 Census.

More than 250 people have reportedly been killed and thousands displaced since clashes erupted between members of the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo community.

A house-to-house digital survey is scheduled to begin in Manipur on September 1. Supporters of the NRC campaign, however, argue that the census process could potentially allow undocumented migrants, particularly migrants from Myanmar, to enter official records and subsequently seek inclusion in citizenship-related documents.

The pro-NRC movement, led by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) and backed by several civil-society organisations, women's groups, student bodies and youth organisations, has expanded beyond the Imphal Valley, which is predominantly inhabited by Meiteis.

Naga organisations have also expressed support for the demand, while Kuki-Zo groups have opposed it.

Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh has backed the demand for an NRC. The state legislative assembly had earlier passed a unanimous resolution in 2022 calling for an NRC exercise before the Census.

Khemchand's predecessor and fellow Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader N. Biren Singh had also recently met Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and reportedly briefed him on the importance of conducting an NRC exercise in Manipur before the census process.

Assam NRC Faces Fresh Legal Scrutiny

The NRC updating exercise in Assam, meanwhile, continues to face controversy and legal uncertainty.

Former Assam NRC Coordinator Hitesh Devsarma has approached the Supreme Court seeking comprehensive and time-bound reverification of the draft and supplementary NRC.

Devsarma filed the petition in his personal capacity and also claimed to represent the concerns of a section of Assam's indigenous population. The Supreme Court subsequently issued notices to the central government, the Assam government, the state NRC coordinator and the Registrar General of India.

Devsarma has alleged that the NRC exercise was affected by errors and irregularities and warned that such shortcomings could have serious implications for national security.

A draft NRC for Assam was published on July 30, 2018, followed by a supplementary list on August 31, 2019. More than 1.9 million applicants were excluded from the list after either failing to apply or failing to establish their eligibility with acceptable documentation.

The then Assam NRC coordinator, Prateek Hajela, described the published list as the final NRC, although formal approval by the Registrar General of India was still pending.

Devsarma has raised allegations that some individuals who, according to him, were originally from Bangladesh were included in the NRC under the category of "Original Inhabitant" (OI), which allowed them to be considered indigenous residents without submitting certain documents.

He has further alleged that software manipulation and corruption by some officials may have affected the process. These allegations remain matters for investigation and judicial consideration.

Questions Over Family-Tree Verification

Devsarma has also questioned the inclusion of individuals whose names, he claims, did not meet the "family tree matching" criteria used during the verification process.

He has alleged that foreign funding may have influenced the NRC updating exercise and called for an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into what he described as a possible scam with implications for India's national security.

The former NRC coordinator has argued that alleged omissions and irregularities have undermined public confidence in the credibility of the exercise and has therefore sought urgent judicial intervention.

At the same time, another petition before the Supreme Court has sought the issuance of citizenship certificates to people whose names appeared in the NRC list. The petitioners, including Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and the All Assam Minority Students' Union, appear to regard the published NRC as an authoritative citizenship document.

The two matters are expected to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court by the end of September.

ED Probe Adds to Assam NRC Controversy

The reported involvement of the Directorate of Enforcement has added another layer to the controversy surrounding the Assam NRC exercise.

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), irregularities involving approximately Rs 260 crore were detected during the NRC updating process.

The CAG's report covering the social, economic and general sectors for the year ended March 31, 2020, identified financial and procedural irregularities in an exercise on which the Centre spent around Rs 1,600 crore.

The audit report recommended penal action against former NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela and the system integrator, Wipro Limited.

The NRC controversy has also generated a significant public debate in Assam, including criticism of those who strongly defended the exercise and described the 2019 list as final.

An Assam-based television journalist had previously authored a book on the NRC exercise that praised Hajela's role. The journalist later faced criticism on social media over alleged links to beneficiaries of the NRC process.

The controversy surrounding the NRC therefore remains far from settled. With legal challenges pending before the Supreme Court, an ED investigation reportedly underway and renewed demands for an NRC in Manipur ahead of the 2027 Census, the issue is once again emerging as a major political, legal and social question across eastern India.

For Assam and neighbouring states, the central challenge remains balancing concerns over undocumented migration and national security with the protection of citizenship rights, due process and the interests of indigenous communities.

The writer is a Guwahati-based journalist and media columnist.

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