Activists, Academics Urge President to Act on ‘Sectarian’ Citizenship Bill, NRC

Respected Rashtrapatiji,

We the undersigned citizens of India hereby seek your urgent intervention on two inter-related matters, which affect the lives of over one million people, perhaps more, in the state of Assam.

On the NRC

We express our deep anguish at the prospect of a very large number of people in Assam being deprived of citizenship and turned into an incarcerated population, as a result of the NRC process initiated at the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It has been reported that out of the 40.07 lakh people excluded from the Final Draft of the NRC, only around 31 lakh people were able to file claims by the deadline of December 31, 2018. Thus, the fate of almost 9 lakh persons has practically been sealed as they are on the verge of losing their citizenship status. Many more may find themselves in a similar situation after the completion of the entire process.

In its judgment that initiated the NRC process, the Supreme Court had directed the central government to frame an adequate deportation mechanism in dialogue with the government of Bangladesh. The Indian government has not raised the deportation issue with its counterpart and has reportedly told the Bangladeshi officials that NRC is an internal Indian matter. In any case, deportation of one million people from Assam to Bangladesh does not appear to be within the bounds of possibility.

Rendering such a huge mass of people stateless would be an unprecedented catastrophe. The looming possibility of one million people – including children and women from poor refugee families – being held in detention centres would be no less inhuman and irrational. Even the possibility of this has pushed a significant number of people in Assam towards suicide. Apart from the human cost, the scale of these detention centres is bound to be an excruciating liability on the public exchequer. The option of turning the excluded persons into non-citizens in perpetuity without any right to participate in the democratic process, is equally inappropriate and counterproductive. This would create a separate category of second class citizenship, vulnerable to myriad kinds of harassment, victimisation and exploitation.

We earnestly urge upon you and the Hon’ble Supreme Court to reconsider the justification behind the NRC process in the light of the visibly calamitous outcomes, and ensure a humane and just result. We believe that granting citizenship to all the NRC excluded persons can provide such a solution.

On the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016

We also note with grave concern that the central government and the ruling party appear to be adamant on passing the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Parliament. By making non-Muslim “illegal migrants” from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh eligible for Indian citizenship, the amendment explicitly discriminates on the ground of religion and violates the constitutional principle of equality.

The government is disingenuous in justifying this amendment as a means of assisting persecuted minorities in India’s neighbourhood. Had it been sincere, it would have included all persecuted groups, based on any religious belief, race, language or ethnicity and extended its scope beyond only those neighbouring countries with a Muslim-majority population.

The only conceivable purpose that the passage of such a defective Citizenship Amendment Bill can serve at this stage is to enable the ruling party to play sectarian politics in Assam on the eve of the general elections and divide the NRC excluded people on religious lines. We urge upon you as the custodian of the Indian Constitution to advise the central government to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 and abandon such divisive political strategies.

We are hopeful that you will intervene at this crucial juncture to uphold human rights and ensure justice for one million people.

Signatories
1	Abhijit Mukhopadhyay	Economist based in New Delhi
2	Abhik Mukherjee	Senior Lecturer, Computer Science & Technology, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur
3	Abusaleh Shariff	Economist, Chief Scholar at the US-India Policy Institute, Washington DC
4	Achin Chakraborty	Professor of Economics and Director, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
5	Aejaz Ahmad Rather	General Secretary, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union
6	Akhilesh Yadav	Vice President, Allahabad University Students’ Union
7	Albeena Shakil	Associate Professor, Jindal Global University, Sonipat
8	Amit Bhaduri	Emeritus Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
9	Amiya Kumar Bagchi	Emeritus Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

10	Amlan Dasgupta	Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University, Sonipat
11	Amutha Jayadeep	Joint Secretary, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union
12	Anamitra Roychowdhury	Assistant Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
13	Anand Teltumbde	Senior Professor and Chair Big Data Analytics, Goa Institute of Management, Goa
14	Aniket Alam	Associate Professor of History, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
15	Anirban Kar	Associate Professor, Delhi School of Economics
16	Anuradha Chenoy	Professor (Retd.) of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
17	Anwesha Sengupta	Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
18	Arindam Banerjee	Assistant Professor of Economics, Ambedkar University Delhi
19	Arindam Jana	Advocate, Calcutta High Court
20	Arindam Roy	Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
21	Atulan Guha	Associate Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur
22	Avishek Konar	Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University, Sonipat
23	Ayesha Kidwai	Professor of Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
24	Bishnu Pada Mondal	General Secretary, Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers’ Organizations, West Bengal
25	Biswajit K.Bora	Academic and activist, University of Delhi
26	Byasdeb Dasgupta	Associate Professor of Economics, University of Kalyani
27	Debabrata Pal	Assistant Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
28	Debaprasad Maity	Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati
29	Debarshi Das	Associate Professor, IIT Guwahati
30	Debjani Sengupta	Associate Professor of English, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi
31	Deborshi Chakraborty	Research Scholar of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
32	Devika Prasad	Human Rights Activist and Researcher
33	Dhananjay Tripathi	Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, South Asian University, New Delhi
34	Dipa Sinha	Assistant Professor of Economics, Ambedkar University Delhi
35	Dwaipayan Banerjee	Researcher and actvist, Kolkata
36	Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya	Professor of Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
37	Farah Naqvi	Author and activist
38	Farhat Salim	Research Scholar, JNU
39	Ghazala Jamil	Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU
40	Gitanjali Prasad	Program Manager, Hausla, Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi
41	Gogol Mitra Thakur	Junior Assistant Professor, Xavier University Bhubaneswar
42	Gorky Chakrabarty	Associate Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

43	Harsh Mander	Director, Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi
44	Himanshu	Associate Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
45	Indranil Chowdhury	Assistant Professor of Economics, PGDAV College, University of Delhi
46	Ipsita Pal	Scientist
47	Jayati Ghosh	Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
48	Johanna Lokhande	Advocate, Delhi High Court
49	Kamal Mitra Chenoy	Professor (Retd.) of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
50	Kamal Nayan Kabra	Former Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi
51	Karen Gabriel	Associate Professor of English, St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi
52	Kasturi Basu	Researcher and actvist, Kolkata
53	Kingsuk Datta	General Secretary, Association of Chartered Accountants
54	Kunal Chattopadhyay	Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
55	Madhu Bhaduri	IFS (Retd.) and Former Ambassador
56	Maidul Islam	Assistant Professor of Political Science, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
57	Manan Kumar Mandal	Professor in Bengali & Director School of Humanities, Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata
58	Manas Kumar Ghosh	Assistant Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
59	Manisha Sethi	Associate Professor, Centre for the Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia
60	Manjari Katju	Professor of Political Science, University of Hyderabad
61	Manoranjan Mohanty	Professor of Social Development, Council for Social Development, New Delh
62	Mansi Sharma	Activist, New Delhi
63	Maroona Murmu	Associate Professor of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
64	Mihika Poddar	Graduate, National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) Kolkata
65	Mihir K. Chakraborty	Professor (Retd.), Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Calcutta
66	Mohinder Singh	Assistant Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
67	Mohsin Alam Bhat	Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University, Sonipat
68	Mohsin Raza Khan	Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University, Sonipat
69	Murzban Jal	Professor, Centre for Educational Studies, Indian Institute of Education, Pune
70	Nabanipa Bhattacharjee	Assistant Professor of Sociology at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
71	Nalini Nayak	Associate Professor (Retd) of Economics, PGDAV College, University of Delhi
72	Nandan Nawn	Associate Professor, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi
73	Nandini Dutta	Economics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi
74	Nandini Ghosh	Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

75	Navsharan Singh	Senior Program Officer, Women’s Rights and Citizenship Program, IDRC, New Delhi
76	Nirmalangshu Mukherji	Former Professor of Philosophy, University of Delhi
77	Parimal Bhattacharya	Associate Professor, Maulana Azad College, University of Calcutta
78	Partha Chatterjee	Professor and Former Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
79	Parthapratim Pal	Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
80	Partho Sarothi Ray	Associate Professor, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata
81	Pijush Roy	Assistant Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employee and Workers
82	Pinaki Chaudhuri	Reader, Theoretical Physics
83	Prabhat Patnaik	Emeritus Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
84	Pranab Kumar Acharya	Secretary, All India Civil Accounts Employees Association
85	Prasenjit Bose	Economist and activist, Kolkata
86	Pratim Ghosal	Research Scholar of Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
87	Praveen Jha	Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
88	Prithviraj Guha	Assistant Professor, Presidency University, Kolkata
89	Pulin B Nayak	Professor (Retd.) of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
90	R.V. Ramana Murthy	Professor of Economics, University of Hyderabad
91	Rafikul Hossain	Associate Professor & Head, Department of Bengali Language & Literature, University of Calcutta
92	Rahul Varman	Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
93	Rajarshi Dasgupta	Assistant Professor of Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
94	Ratan Khasnabis	Dean, School of Economics and Commerce, Adamas University West Bengal
95	Rita Sinha	Associate Professor (Retd.), Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi
96	Rohit Azad	Assistant Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
97	S.P. Shukla	IAS (Retd.), Former Union Finance Secretary & Ambassador to GATT
98	Sabyasachi Sen Gupta	Professor of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur
99	Sachin N	Assistant Professor of English, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi
100	Sajjad Hassan	Director, Misaal & Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi
101	Salman Imtiaz	President, Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union
102	Santanu Basu	Associate Professor, Panjab University, Chandigarh
103	Sarika Chaudhary	Vice-President, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union
104	Saumyajit Bhattacharya	Associate Professor of Economics, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
105	Seema Mustafa	Editor, The Citizen
106	Senthil Babu	Researcher, French Institute of Pondicherry
107	Shakuntala Mahanta	Associate Professor, IIT Guwahati

108	Shantanu De Roy	Assistant Professor, Department of Policy Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi
109	Sheetanshu Kumar	Assistant Professor of Hindi, Assam University, Silchar
110	Shiv Sethi	Sanhati-India
111	Sirisha Naidu	Associate Professor, Wright State University, USA
112	Sitala Prasad Roy	Addl. Secretary General, All India Association of Pay And Accounts Officers (Civil)
113	Smita Gupta	Independent Researcher, New Delhi
114	Somnath Roy	Assistant Professor, IIT Kharagpur
115	Souvik Roy	Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur
116	Subhanil Chowdhury	Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
117	Subhasis Bandopadhyay	Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur
118	Subrata Mukherjee	Associate Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
119	Sudipta Bandyopadhyay	Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Calcutta
120	Sudipta Bhattacharyya	Professor of Economics, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
121	Sukanta Das	Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur
122	Sumit Sarkar	Associate Professor of Economics, XLRI Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur
123	Sunanda Sen	Former Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
124	Supurna Banerjee	Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
125	Talha Abdul Rahman	Advocate, Supreme Court of India
126	Tanweer Fazal	Associate Professor of Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
127	Taposik Banerjee	Assistant Professor, Ambedkar University Delhi
128	Utsa Patnaik	Emeritus Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
129	V. Lenin Kumar	Assistant Professor, School of Government, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune
130	Vamsi Vakulabharanam	Associate Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
131	Vebhuti Duggal	Assistant Professor of Film Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi
132	Vibha Iyer	Assistant Professor of Economics, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
133	Vijaya Venkataraman	Associate Professor, Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi
134	Vikas Bajpai	Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
135	Xonzoi Borbora	Associate Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati