Out of NRC, some Assamese in Hyderabad see troubled times ahead

Hyderabad: Around noon today, Abhijeet received a telephone call from his family in Goalpara district of Assam. After a brief chat, a dejected Abhijeet hung up and left for work. By evening, he had received a few more telephone calls from his relatives who offered him all possible financial help after which he was left pondering over his future.

A security guard in a private security agency in Hyderabad, Abhijeet is among the 19 lakh people whose names were missing from Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), though many have lived in Assam for decades.

Hyderabad is home to many Assamese, numbering anywhere between 1.5 and 2 lakh, a majority of whom work as security guards. With names of many of those
working in the city and its outskirts missing from the NRC, they are now worried for their jobs as they feel that if their employers come to know that their names
are missing in the NRC, their services may be terminated. The immediate task before them is to take leave from their jobs, travel back home and fight their
individual cases in the tribunals.

“If we have to approach the tribunal, we will have to travel to Assam and none of us is sure if we will be granted leave for this purpose. In fact, once we tell them
the reason (for leave), many of us are worried that our employer might even terminate us,” said a 34-year-old security guard, who works for a private security
agency.

He has been working here for the last two years. “More than anything, I will now have to spend a lot of money, both in travel as well as approaching the tribunal
or perhaps the higher courts. I do not have that kind of money and will have to depend on relatives and friends,” he said.

Most of the Assamese working in the city have been getting telephone calls from their family and friends since morning. While some of the calls were meant to
give the good news that their names found a mention in the NRC, there were others who got the bad news of their names or those of their family members
missing from the NRC.

Besides Hyderabad, there are large numbers of Assamese working in other cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.

“Some of us have decided to approach our manager, explain the matter to him and take leave so that we can fight the case in the tribunal back home. Our families are also worried,” said another private security guard, who is posted at an office in Gachibowli.

He says that though there are many from his state working in Hydera-bad whose names were missing, they are keeping it to themselves for fear of losing their
jobs. “Our future is uncertain. In case we are unable to clear our names from the foreigners tribunal, then what happens?” wonders another employee, who hails
from Barpeta.

In Hyderabad, Assamese have been residing across the length and breadth of the city and also the adjoining Cyberabad.

However, there were many from Assam who have made Hyderabad their home, whose names had been included in the first list itself. “All of us in our group
checked individually and our names have been included in the list. In our whatsapp group, I have so far not come across anyone complaining that their names have not been included,” said Chandan Thakur of the Looitporia-Hyderabad Assam Association, which is an NGO.