Assam Nixes Aadhaar Amid Infiltration Fears

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s crackdown on illegal aliens continues apace. The state cabinet’s latest order banning issuance of Aadhaar cards for those above 18 except Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and tea garden workers is a bid to prevent ‘Bangladeshis’ from illegally entering Assam and getting Aadhaar cards to prove their citizenship. Justifying the move, Sarma cited saturation coverage of 103 per cent for Aadhaar in the general community and 96 per cent for the SCs, STs and tea garden workers, who will get a one-year window to get their Aadhaar cards. The move will be enforced from October 1. Any adult seeking an Aadhaar card after that will have to apply to the district commissioner, and they will be issued only in the rarest of rare cases. This order comes even as several people were forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove Indian citizenship. Some persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after West Bengal authorities verified that they were Indians. The West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the issue. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Assam CM of illegally implementing the National Register of Citizens in Bengal, where he has no jurisdiction. Sarma had categorically announced in 2024 that issuing Aadhaar numbers would be strictly regulated in Assam and only those who had applied to be included in the NRC would be given the identity card in order to stop the influx of illegal foreigners. However, several lawyers and activists have said this is patently illegal, as the Assam government does not have the power to make NRC a condition for Aadhaar enrolment.

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The Assam CM has made the expulsion of illegal immigrants and Rohingyas almost a mission statement. In the process, several Bengali-speaking Muslims are being targeted. Earlier, he had pointed out anomalies in the distribution of Aadhaar cards, as four districts, Barpeta, Dhubri, Morigaon and Nagaon, had more registrations than the projected population. All four districts are minority dominated. Sarma, a former Congressman, has become one of the BJP’s most strident Hindutva votaries. Raising the bogey of demographic changes that would allegedly make Assam a Muslim majority state by 2041, Sarma has accused the Bengali-speaking Muslims of ‘fertiliser jihad’ and ‘land jihad’, promising to bring a law to prevent the transfer of Hindus’ land to Muslims. He has cracked down on ‘illegal’ madrasas and child marriages, citing the wellbeing of Muslim youth. The aim is obviously to consolidate the Hindu vote, but analysts have pointed to the danger of communalising the atmosphere. The ban on issuing Aadhaar cards only reinforces this narrative. At a time when Aadhaar is a necessity for even the most basic of transactions, it is suddenly being seen as a certificate without merit, as was evident in the Election Commission initially ruling it out as an accepted document for inclusion in the voters list in Bihar. Assam’s caution on the unique identity card is justifiable, but misuse of the scheme to target a particular community is unacceptable.