‘Paused citizens’: waiting and negotiating liminality in Assam, India

ABSTRACT

In Assam, India, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) population enumeration process excluded about two million people from the final list. The NRC dropouts referred to in this study as ‘paused citizens’ are locked in a condition that is legally and socially ambiguous, hovering between citizens and stateless. This essay seeks to highlight the experiences of ‘paused citizens’ who have been thrown into this opaque and paralysing situation as they attempt to manage their precarious status, illustrate the tangled web of citizenship regimes, and the binary distinctions between inclusion and exclusion that are mediated by documents. A closer examination also reveals how the systems of power and control operate and how people trapped in time alternate between feelings of purposeful waiting and senseless stasis.

KEYWORDS:

• Paused citizens
• NRC dropouts
• waiting
• liminality
• negotiating

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Based on discussion with Sarfaraz at Sidhani Village, Jania Assembly Constituency, April 2022 and telephonic conversation in June 2023.

2. Interview with Sabeha at Bilortari village, Kalgachia, April 2022.

3. Interview with Madood at Bilortari village, Kalgachia, April 2022.

4. Based on discussion with Shahzahan at Barpeta in May 2019, April 2022 and telephonic conversation in June 2023.

5. Based on discussion with Mazani at Barpeta Road in April 2022.

6. Based on group discussion at Besimari village, Kalgachia, April 2022.

7. Interview with Aamna at Besimari village, Kalgachia, April 2022.

8. Interview with Abdul at Besimari village, Kalgachia, April 2022.

9. Based on discussions with Arshad at Barpeta Road, in May 2019 and April 2022.

10. Based on discussions with Advocate Debasmita Ghosh, HRLN office, Guwahati, in May 2019 and April 2022.

11. Interview with Nessa, Aikhari Bilar Pathar village, Baksa, April 2022.

12. Interview with Mustafa, Aikhari Bilar Pathar village, Baksa, April 2022.

13. Based on discussions at Aadhar Center, Baksa, April 2022.

14. Based on Interview at Bongsibari Pathar, Barnagar Subdivision, Baksa, April 2022.

15. Based on interview of Sumaiya, Bongshibari Pathar village, Barnagar Subdivision, Baksa.

16. Based on Telephonic Interview with Binay in April 2022.

17. Based on discussion with Abdul Kalam Azad at Barpeta Road, April 2022.

18. Based on interview of Atika, Bongshibari Pathar village, Barnagar subdivision, Baksa.

19. Based on discussions with Tora Aggarwala at Guwahati, April 2022.

20. Based on Interview with Mohsim at Barpeta, April 2022.