Democratic polity defies credibility if it has to vilify its own citizenry, much as the civil and political virtues of running a government lie in a commitment to law, constitutional values and neutrality. In this regard, the recent issuance of a “D” voter’s notice to Ajmal Haque, a retired Indian Army officer, by the state police to prove his nationality suggests many genuine Indians have also been served with similar notices.

Indeed, the law appears skewed in such a manner as to suggest that any “suspect” is burdened with having to prove his or her bona fides while the police or any nosey parker are left free to ask uncalled for questions. Notices are issued on flimsy grounds, such as mistakes in one’s name or that of one’s parents, Suchandra Roy Choudhury, a housewife from Silchar, being a case in point.

She was served a notice only because there was some confusion between her husband’s and father’s names. On the other side of the story, the Assam police, at a Press conference, claimed that some 42,000 aliens, declared “foreigners” by the Foreigners’ Tribunal, were not traceable and had gone missing in Assam in recent years. There is the growing suspicion of the presence of a large number of foreigners, especially Bangladeshis, in Assam.

Although there is a strict border vigil and a legal-constitutional process of updating of the National Register of Citizens , there remains growing insecurity among people of the state in general with regard to being suspected as ‘foreigners’ or being marginalised by the presence of a large number of suspected Bangladeshis. In effect, there is the politics of Othering that is perpetuated in the name of suspicion and the subsequent due process. An organisation calling itself “Prabrajan Birodhi Manch,”, led by lawyer-cum-activist Upamanyu Hazarika, started a tirade against suspected Bangladeshis in Mayang and certain other parts of lower and upper Assam.

There is a heightened tone and tenor of aggressive assertion of ethnic authenticity accompanied by strong rhetoric against cultural, linguistic and religious minorities by sharpening the existing faultlines of indigenous versus migrants and native versus outsiders. A legal issue of determining citizenship without causing harm and prejudice thereby acquires political overtones and ends up creating social and cultural divisions in the state.

There had been a continual deletion of names from Assam’s voters’ list since 1978, especially those of religious and linguistic minorities. There have been several revisions of the electoral list during which the names of hundreds of thousands of suspected Bangladeshis have already been deleted in many districts of the state. Apart from this, the Assam government disbanded children from families that have more than two and set off an alarm by claiming that of 29 districts in Assam 13 were Muslimmajority .

Assam government spokesperson Himanta Biswa Sharma raised such an alarm by declaring that by 2050 the state’s Muslim population, at the present rate of growth, would surpass the Hindu populace.

This kind of religiously-enumerated population count has, until now, never been a strategy of governance as it implicitly assumes a Hindu majoritarian position. The civic, political and social virtues of governance in Assam get mired in such a discourse of Othering, assuming the core of political mobilisation of identities. In the past, the Congress government did play on such an issue, but without raking up a direct Hindu-Muslim reference.

The Congress rather played it with caution so as to not alienate itself from the minority populace. In contrast, the BJP makes it the main plank of its political assertion, resulting in a social and moral policing of inter-religious transactions. Recently, a journalist visiting Barpeta Satra with a Muslim friend caused a ruckus and an apology was demanded from him. Cases of mob lynching of Muslim traders on the suspicion of carrying beef or taking cows to slaughter also vitiated the atmosphere to a large extent.

In Nowgong , Jorhat and on the outskirts of Guwahati, the recent incidents of mob-lynching created an atmosphere of fear and distrust. Continuous hate propaganda against certain sections and the perpetuation of stereotypes about their religion and culture along with birth rate and rate of growth of population almost create a condition of polarised political opinion that creates its own data on population and spin arguments establishing the virility of others.

Added to this, security concerns raised by police and security agencies about a porous border and the threat of illegal immigration keep the IndoBangladeshi border a major bone of contention. This open border and fencing and securing it remains a major talking point for any subversive happening in Assam. The security discourse of a closed and sealed border, however antediluvian it might sound, acts as a safety valve for an insecure and threatened populace, although state security and human security need to be distinguished. With the rising level of human security, politics centering on ethnic and cultural insecurity combined with national security threats could have been addressed in a more secular and democratic manner.

One of the major issues related to the deportation of illegal immigrants follows a strange mechanism of pushback, despite Bangladesh not agreeing to such a mechanism. The pushback resulted in gross human rights abuse and violations, as the rights of those who declared “illegal immigrants” are violated with impunity. The conditions of inmates in detention camps and even those declared Indians after a prolonged trial often lose their psychological balance. The human tragedy embedded in due process and consequent displacement is so poignant that basic values of civil society come under serious questions.

A kind of insensitivity towards the genocides that took place at Nellie, Mokalmoa and Kokrajhar and other places throughout 1989 and the 1990s created large internally displaced populations, who have also lost their civil and political rights to a large extent. Keeping such people permanently displaced and then making it mandatory that they prove their nationality is simply layered victimisation, which is surely going to affect generations of linguistic and religious minorities in Assam.

Combined with this, the displacement due to river erosion, floods and loss of hearth and home affecting millions every year in Assam has created a huge displaced indigenous populace, whose fate is no different from minorities suspected of being Bangladeshi and displaced indigenous people.

The poor level of human security, marred by ethnic rivalries and politically motivated suspicion, as also such undemocratic acts of Othering have created a deadly mix between ethnic and religious majoritarianism, the opposite end of which points to the vulnerability of minorities.

The idea of governance in such a contested terrain needs to be more inclusive, humane and caring, instead of resorting to any kind of divide and rule. Assam’s geographical integrity and territorial oneness could be preserved in a condition of mutual and reciprocal respect between ethnic groups and minorities.

(The writer is an associate professor of philosophy at the North Eastern Hill University, Shillong)