‘Only doing our duty’: In Upper Assam, locals pitch in to help thousands appearing for NRC hearings

While the process was arduous (four deaths and three accidents have been reported so far), a few people swung into action in the Upper Assam districts of Jorhat, Sivasagar and Golaghat by helping the applicants with basic amenities once they arrived: a bite to eat, access to toilets, a place to freshen up and guidance to help them locate their NRC hearing centres. “What we did was really not a big deal, nor were trying to prove a point. This was our kortobyo, our duty. This is not a question of being compassionate or  kind. This is their right,” says Golaghat-based activist Soneshwar Narah, among the many who have spent sleepless nights to help the travellers.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, which aims to determine genuine Indians from “illegal migrants” in the state, is finally set to be published on August 31, after multiple deadline extensions. On August 4, close to 400 families, received summons to appear at hearings in far-off places, nearly 400 km away, within very short notice.

“Off late, a mistrust has developed in Assam — us and them, ‘miya’ and ‘khilonjiya’, language and ethnicity. Yes, the process to determine citizenship should go on by all means but even then, basic human rights should be upheld,” says Bondita Acharya, a human rights activist in Jorhat.

Acharya was referring to recent developments in Assam where a social media debate on a poetry genre culminated in a Guwahati-based journalist filing an FIR against 10 poets in July.

Also read | Call Me By My Name: How the ‘Miyas’ of Assam are re-appropriating the slur

On the night of August 5, as Acharya learned on Facebook of the NRC hearing development, she immediately alerted a network of people in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Charaideo and Sivasagar. “The Jorhat Central club opened its doors, we started preparing food, water etc. Just the basic requirements,” she says, adding that the district administration provided very little help. “In Jorhat, three women fainted from dehydration. Many times we asked for medical assistance, but in vain. Even the hearing centres, where the NRC officials were conducting the hearings, had no ventilation, no security, no water. So we all pitched in individually to help.”

Locals in Amguri making khichdi for those who appeared for the NRC hearings.

Ashraful Hussain, a social worker from Barpeta, says he and a few others put up a post on Facebook seeking help on the night the villagers received notice, the chunk of which were centred around two districts of Kamrup (rural) and Barpeta.

“It was chaos. Many times they would reach Upper Assam and realise they don’t have all the documents. These people didn’t even have phones,” he says, “But we were in touch with the people in Upper Assam and they helped a lot to coordinate. Many people who have come back post hearings say that they did receive a lot of help and are indebted.”

Narah, who is from the Mising tribe and works for the Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangathan, says, “Even we want a fair NRC. But we do not want people to suffer — they might be from Bangladesh, or from Latin America. By helping them, we were not trying to establish our Axomiyagiri, or send a message out saying that we were doing something out of the ordinary. We were only doing our duty as human beings.”