Gorkhas of Assam feel left out

The complete draft of the renewed National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on July 30 and the Gorkhas of Assam feel that they are paying the price for India's treaty with Nepal almost seven decades ago.

The exclusion of Bengali Muslims and Hindus, the two communities often suspected to be illegal migrants, have become the subject of debates.

An estimated 100, 000 of some 2.5 million Gorkhas in Assam have not found their names in the draft. This has given a jolt to the Gorkhas most of whom are descendants of soldiers recruits by the Assam Rifles that was born as Cachar Levy in 1835.

A few trace their origin to Ratikanta Upadhyaya, a follower of medieval Assamese saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva, who had a couple of Vaishnav monasteries built in Jorhat and Nagaon in the 16th century.

“Data collected from the districts imply about 1 lakh of our people are missing from the NRC, the highest being in Baksa district followed by Sonitpur and Golaghat. They should never have been excluded because the March 24, 1971 cut-off does not apply to the Gorkhas,” Prem Tamang, president of the All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union was quoted as saying to The Hindu.

The 1951 NRC has been updated on the basis of the cut-off date prescribed by the Assam Accord of 1985 for detection, detention and deportation foreigners, specifically from Bangladesh. This means migrants who have documents establishing their stay in Assam up to the midnight of March 24, 1971, are eligible for inclusion in the NRC.

Tamang referred to the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship that ensures free movement of Indian and Nepalese people into each other’s territory, own property, participate in trade and commerce and enjoy other privileges.