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Are you a cite-zen?

Let's talk about the NRC. First, a primer. The National Register of Citizens is a list of people in Assam who are Indians citizens, leaving out those who are not, from those who are residing, or are from, the state. It is of political relevance because Assam has seen illegal immigrants from Bangladesh change the Hindu-Muslim ratio in the state. The further you probe into the history of the issue, you'll see there are many more details that will make you understand what's true, false, right and wrong about it. This article's topic just one side of the issue. 

The focus of this piece is on a deeper issue: on the raw nerve it touches so callously - citizenship, otherwise called home. Most of us were never formally introduced to home, in all its forms: people, building, place and/or community . We just grew up knowing one, except for the unfortunate among us. We became it and it became us. We contribute to it like it contributed to us. We also nurture, value and honour it the same way. So, when someone come and pulls the rug from under our feet, it means dishonour. Much more when it's abrupt. All that we have, that was sacredly ours, becomes lost.

Citizenship is the face of all of this. To people who have made this modern country home, it is everything that has been described in the above paragraph and more. As much as citizenship is a legalistic of paper, to a homegrown (and/or homeborn) individual, it means so much more. So when you have whole families with one member out of the NRC, and other ridiculous cases, your blood boils because of how callously the Government takes what citizenship is and means. There is no comedy of errors that is justifiable, like how they have happened. Even if it was because it was a clerical error, or a matter of which list the missing name was not on, why would they even? Even if you argue correction by process, how stupid do you have to be to design a process that's best work is this in the first place? They gave screwing up a whole new standard, and with what ease it was just passed of.

Now, India's own children (where they be among the illegal ones) have had to be cited to prove something that is as plain ridiculous as their home, when it's as clear as day that they aren't. Can an entire Indian family on the list have a Bangladeshi son who's citizenship is natural (and other such cases)? Or do you need a special committee to answer that? As of now, the government reserves the right and they prefer a simply insipid response. Perhaps the people (once we all come to our senses) will give them an equally insipid one. Till then, the few of us remain cited out of our den, with no home zen whatsoever. 

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