Toeing the line of National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam, DGP OP Singh on Tuesday issued an advisory directing top cops to get Bangladeshis and other foreigners identified so that they could be deported.
To keep himself aloof from the brouhaha, the DGP, who has himself kicked up some major controversies in his career, clarified to a news channel, “It has nothing to do with the NRC. It’s a normal policing exercise intended to strengthen our security mechanism.”
The DGP’s letter, sent to all SSPs, IGs of ranges and ADGs of zones, said that it had come to their notice that Bangladeshis were living illegally in the state and many of them had gone missing. Officials were asked to get illegal foreign residents identified so that they could be deported in a time-bound manner.
The revised citizen’s list in BJP-ruled Assam, NRC or National Register of Citizens, has created a lot of controversy as it left out 19 lakh people, who face the possibility of being thrown out of the state if they could not prove their citizenship. In his directive, Singh ordered officials to get places and settlements combed where Bangladeshis and other foreigners seek shelter like railway stations, bus stations, new colonies, transport hubs and slum clusters on the outskirts of cities and verify citizenship documents produced by anyone appearing suspicious.
The police have also been asked to track down government employees who may have helped prepare fake documents for the illegal residents.
Fingerprints of people identified as Bangladeshis or other foreigners will be taken. The police have told construction companies that it is their responsibility to keep identity proofs of the labourers. The DGP stressed that the exercise of identitfication should be video-recorded to ensure transparency and prevent harassment during the exercise.
“If people claim during the probe that they belong to another district or state, their claims should be be verified. It should also be probed what documents, like ration cards, voter ID cards, driving licences and passports, they have procured to legalise their stay,” the DGP said.
Last month, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had praised the Assam NRC and said that he would launch a similar drive in UP, if needed, as it was important for national security. The Supreme Court-monitored exercise in Assam is, however, vastly different as it is aimed at determining who was born in Assam and who came from Bangladesh or other neighbouring regions after a cut-off date. Those who could prove they were residents of Assam up to midnight on March 24, 1971 — a day before Bangladesh declared its independence from Pakistan — would be considered Indian citizens by the NRC.
