Sons of the Soil Citizenship Campaign: Assam

The Son of the soil is not the one born on the soil of the nation, but the one who lives in the soil, works in the soil, feeds the nation with food and comforts and shares ups and downs with the people around. The Bangla speaking Hindus, and Muslims of Assam (numbering 10 million), like other working classes, are true sons of the soil, children of India. They are born here, their forefathers lived here for millennia, they laid their sweat and blood in the soil here. The piece of land where they live belongs to them, they never grabbed never robbed any one’s property, but have fallen prey many a times to the exploiters and oppressors..  

 
The attitude of the present regimes in the state and the Center towards the sons of the soil are reminiscent of 1757, when the East India Company set hold on India and, in subsequent years, took away peoples’ rights over land. The final draft of the National Register for Citizens (NRC), issued by the Assam government on July 30, 2018, strikes off the citizenship of 4 million working class people. Any one born here, living on hard earned income and contributing half of his/ her earnings to the nation has the fundamental right to live in the motherland, much more than those who rule, dictate and exploit. The entire exercise of NRC update has in its backdrop a twisted notion that the working classes must prove their citizenship. Rather it should be the opposite. Until the state proves someone a foreigner, he/she belongs to here particularly if he/ she is a wage worker or farmer or artisan. Confirmation by the village that the person was born here and has been living for more than one generation makes the person Indian. Nobody questions the wealthy. Who gave them the right to amass the wealth at the cost of others and dictate sons of the soils to leave the motherland? This is feudal imperialism. It must be repulsed.
The government can’t cancel the citizenship of 4 million down to earth people. We urge the government to resort to a fair and feasible course for these people.
 
We wish to stress the following

1. Bengal was the highest textiles base in India before 1757 when East India Company took over reigns from Sirajuddaula. (India’s contribution to world textiles trade/ export was 40%, today it is 2.4%) 
2. British rule crippled the textiles cottage industry, subjecting Bengal to acute poverty, famine and outward migration.
3. Assam was also subjugated by the British. However, the migrant workers from Bengal (brought to grow tea and rice) settled on barren lands or worked for landlords, hence earned the right to live there.
4. Bengal had higher percentage of Muslims among the landless laborers and smaller percentage among the land owners, hence among the migrant workers the percentage of Muslims was higher. (Pyare Lal who went to Noakhali with Gandhi in 1946, wrote in his volumes, “The Last Phase”: Noakhali district had 81% population Muslims and 19% Hindus while 66% land was owned by the Hindus and 34% by the Muslims.)   
5. As per 2011 census Muslims comprise 31% of Assam population.(in 1941 census it was 26%) but own less than 10% of lands and assets or government jobs (this data has to be substantiated). The per capita income of Muslims in Assam may not be higher than one third of the state/ national average.
6.  Assam masses will gain very little with the takeover of the assets of the people deprived of citizenship. Today, farmers are unable to survive on land they own, not because the land area is less but because the market prices of farm produce are low. There is outward flow of people from farms/ villages.
7. Farmers are the owners of their lands only on paper. Real owners are the market forces.
8. The cutoff date for Indian citizenship has been put as March 24, 1971, the day Bangladesh was born (in whose creation India played a crucial role). 1971 census or voter list can’t have the names of those who came to India few months prior to this date. 1991 census would reflect this.  From then to the last census (2011) the rise in percentage of Muslim population is not more than 3% . That would be partly due to higher growth rate among the poor and partly due to migration from elsewhere. Thus the maximum percentage of foreigners can’t exceed 1% of Muslim population of 10 million. 
9. The people whom communalists humiliate by branding them as Bangladeshis have never been a threat to their security. Their involvement in petty crimes (as per conviction records) is not higher than other community. They have been the main victims of Nellie massacre (3000 killed in 1983) and other riots or pogroms.
10. Trade relations between India and Bangladesh establish that both the people are driven into the same economy. Workers are subservient to them.  
11.  Partition was merely the division of ruling authority – few states came to be ruled by the Muslim League and remaining by the Congress. People could live where ever they wanted. There was no consideration for the interests and plight of the working classes. 
12.  Justice demands that the India-Pakistan-Bangladesh borders must be made porus for the working classes as these classes were never given their rightful due in British India or new born nations.
13.  Indians going abroad get the citizenship of that nation after working for few years. Many countries give full citizenship to the children of illegal migrants born there. Here we are dealing with people whose forefathers, for millennia, lived here and served this land. They deserve at least the rights we demand for NRIs in other nations.                 

(The author is part of Sadbhav Mission)