Assam Citizenship Drive

The timing of the move by the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) authorities in Assam to delete thousands of names from the list published last year is being viewed with suspicion by many.

Amid widespread protests in Assam over the centre's decision to go forward with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, the state finance minister and BJP's main strategist for Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma sparked off a controversy with his statement that if the bill is not brought in, at least 17 districts in Assam will go the 'Jinnah way'.

An indigenous Assamese family in a village in the state's Darrang district lost its sole breadwinner last November. The family of Ananda Das, 58, alleges that he was killed by an illegal migrant from a neighbouring village in central Assam.

At the stroke of midnight on December 31, almost two crore citizens of Assam would get legal status as the state government completes the first round of the citizenship exercise, but the centre is worried about the aftermath. Intelligence inputs have warned the state of backlash in districts along Meghalaya, West Bengal and Bangladesh border.

Standing near her small house in an Assam village, nine-year-old Jahanara Khatun's tiny hands struggle to hold up the voters' list before the camera. It is proof, her mother says, that her husband Anowar Hussain, was an Indian. And so was their daughter, Jahanara.

A Guwahati-based man has found himself arrested after a court said he failed to prove that he is a citizen of India. Initially the Foreigners Tribunal, and later the Guwahati High Court, dismissed the documents Asgar Ali submitted as proof of his citizenship - voter ID card and Aadhar.

The timing of the move by the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) authorities in Assam to delete thousands of names from the list published last year is being viewed with suspicion by many.

Amid widespread protests in Assam over the centre's decision to go forward with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, the state finance minister and BJP's main strategist for Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma sparked off a controversy with his statement that if the bill is not brought in, at least 17 districts in Assam will go the 'Jinnah way'.

An indigenous Assamese family in a village in the state's Darrang district lost its sole breadwinner last November. The family of Ananda Das, 58, alleges that he was killed by an illegal migrant from a neighbouring village in central Assam.

At the stroke of midnight on December 31, almost two crore citizens of Assam would get legal status as the state government completes the first round of the citizenship exercise, but the centre is worried about the aftermath. Intelligence inputs have warned the state of backlash in districts along Meghalaya, West Bengal and Bangladesh border.

Standing near her small house in an Assam village, nine-year-old Jahanara Khatun's tiny hands struggle to hold up the voters' list before the camera. It is proof, her mother says, that her husband Anowar Hussain, was an Indian. And so was their daughter, Jahanara.

A Guwahati-based man has found himself arrested after a court said he failed to prove that he is a citizen of India. Initially the Foreigners Tribunal, and later the Guwahati High Court, dismissed the documents Asgar Ali submitted as proof of his citizenship - voter ID card and Aadhar.