Why residents of former Bangladeshi enclaves are losing sleep over ongoing SIR in West Bengal

Ten years after gaining Indian citizenship, residents of erstwhile Bangladeshi enclaves in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district fear for their rights, amidst the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) in the state to verify and update electoral rolls. The reason? The 2002 SIR rolls, which form the basis for the exercise, do not include their names, for they were Bangladeshi citizens at the time.

“We only became Indian citizens after 2015, when our enclaves officially merged with India. Now they are asking for documents from a time when we didn’t even belong to this country,” fretted Saddam Hossain, a 32-year-old farmer in Madhya Mashaldanga, one of the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves which had merged with India in 2015.

While no documents are needed to be furnished during the enumeration period, according to Election Commission of India guidelines, those whose names were not part of the 2002 SIR rolls, may exhibit birth certificates, matriculation or other educational certificates issued by recognised boards or universities, family register prepared by state or local authorities, among 11 documents as proof of identity for revision of draft electoral rolls. The list of valid documents also includes the national register of citizens (NRC), wherever applicable.

A sense of dread and unease troubles Hossain and others like him, who chose to become Indian citizens following the India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement (LBA) of 2015. As part of the transfer of enclaves back then, Bangladesh had received 111 Indian enclaves, adding up to 17,160.63 acres, while India got 51 enclaves from Bangladesh, measuring a total of 7,110.02 acres, spread across the states like West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. Residents of the enclaves were given the option to choose the country they wished to be citizens of. While none of the 15,856 Bangladeshis from the 51 enclaves that came to India reportedly opted to retain their Bangladeshi citizenship, 921 Indians from the Indian enclaves in Bangladesh migrated to India, retaining their Indian citizenship.

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Popular culture in the region traces the haphazard presence of enclaves of one country within the other’s territories to chess games played by the rulers of the erstwhile princely states of Cooch Behar (in West Bengal) and Rongpur (in present-day Bangladesh) in the 18th century. It is said the two friends would bet villages from their kingdom during the game. When one kind lost, the village would become a part of the other’s territory. This gradually, bits of Cooch Behar ended up in Rongpur and vice versa. In 1947, when the partition of India happened, these villages became land-locked islands, or enclaves, of one country within the other’s boundaries, till the exchange of 2015.

The merger, hailed as a triumph of diplomacy and humanitarianism, had promised integration, dignity and rights. But for the enclave residents, the promises have often been dashed by bureaucratic rigidity, the most recent example of which is the ongoing SIR.

Ever since the election commission kick-started the exercise in West Bengal earlier this month, across Madhya Mashaldanga, in roadside stalls to family drawing rooms, the conversation has revolved around whether their names will be a part of the revised electoral rolls and whether they will be able to retain their newfound Indian identity.

A deep sense of apprehension hangs in the air, even though the ECI has reportedly assured that the enclave residents will be treated as a “special case”.

As yet, residents of the former enclaves of Madhya Mashaldanga, Poaturkuthi and several others in Cooch Behar, say they have refused to accept enumeration forms being distributed by booth-level officers (BLOs), because the election commission’s 2002 electoral roll, used as the reference for verification, does not include them.

“We have Aadhaar, PAN, and voter cards, but all of them were issued after 2015. That does not seem to be enough. They are asking for old Indian documents or our parents’ names from the 2002 electoral rolls. How can we provide those when we weren’t Indian citizens back then?” asked 32-year-old Jainal Abedin.

Like most residents of the former enclaves here, Abedin earns a living working as a marginal farmer. His extended family of eight includes parents, brothers and his own children.

Under the LBA agreement, the government had assured that official land documents would be provided to the residents for farming following a land survey, but that is yet to happen, they claim. For now, while some work as marginal farmers, others are employed as migrant labourers.

“Even a decade after the implementation of the LBA, many of our crucial demands, such as land ownership and opportunities for employment, remain unfulfilled. And now even our voting rights appear to be under the scanner,” alleged Abedin.

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According to reports, the election commission has stated that the 2015 LBA will be respected and that the list of enclave residents, or national population register (NPR), prepared at the time will be used as a valid document for the enumeration process.

But till the residents actually see their names on the SIR rolls, the fear of being left out lingers. As does the confusion.

“Several women from our villages married into Indian families residing outside the enclaves before 2015. If the EC treats us as a special case, will these women and their families be covered, too? Or will they be left out because their parents’ names are missing from the 2002 list?” wondered Abedin.

According to locals, names of over 1,100 people, mostly married women who had migrated out of the enclaves, were missing from the NPR. If their names were included, the NPR could work as a solution, conceded Abedin.

A view of Madhya Mashaldanga. Photo by Biswadip Saha

The Madhya Mashaldanga residents are not the only ones losing sleep over the SIR; the same anxiety runs deep in Batrigachh, another former Bangladeshi enclave now part of the Dinhata-I block in Cooch Behar.

Residents here recall how a 2011 census, ahead of the 2015 transfer, missed counting villagers who were working as migrant labourers outside the enclaves at the time.

“Their names were never recorded in that census,” he said. “Now, if the authorities rely on the 2011 data or the 2002 rolls for verification, where does that leave them?” questioned Raushan Sarkar, a young Batrigachh resident, also a farmer.

His voice dropped to almost a whisper as he added: “Some of our elders are genuinely afraid. They worry that one day they might be told they belong to Bangladesh again.”

While the election commission had earlier, during the SIR exercise in Bihar, reportedly assured the Supreme Court that those found ineligible for electoral roll registration under SIR would not lose citizenship, for those who have spent years in limbo and only for the past 10 years found a sense of belonging, the sense of foreboding is difficult to ignore.

Krishna Barna, a 45-year-old homemaker, voiced the same concern as Sarkar. “For nearly 68 years, our ancestors lived without citizenship [or the facilities thereof]. It was only after the enclave exchange on July 31, 2015, that we finally became Indian citizens. Now, with the reintroduction of the SIR, we are once again anxious about our future. We urge the administration to clearly spell out what plans they have for us.”

The uncertainty is no less overwhelming for those from the Indian enclaves in Bangladesh, who retained their Indian citizenship following the transfer. The reason? Often, these enclaves were so deep into the territory of the neighbouring country that it made it impossible for the residents to participate in exercises like the 2002 SIR or even access all citizenship-related documents before they finally moved to the mainland.

Hari Barman, aged about 50, lives with his family in a two-bedroom flat allotted by the government in a resettlement colony on the outskirts of Haldibari, built for Indians who had moved from enclaves that were transferred to Bangladesh. With no steady job, he is dependent on the government’s public distribution scheme for ration. “We did get homes, but the papers have not been registered in our names yet. The process feels unfinished, and with this new revision of voter lists, the anxiety has returned,” he said. Unable to participate in the 2002 SIR, his name is not on that list.

Added Osman Gani, a resident of the Dinhata settlement camp, “We chose India willingly. We have been granted Indian citizenship, but now we fear losing those rights again.”

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Parijayee Shramik Aikya Manch, a local organisation working for migrant workers in Cooch Behar, has meanwhile urged the EC to introduce special provisions for residents of the former enclaves. The organisation’s leader, Asif Faruk, told the local media recently that in a letter dated October 30 to the election commission, the organisation had appealed for flexibility in the SIR process for residents of the former enclaves, urging that no legitimate Indian citizen should be denied the right to vote over technical or bureaucratic hurdles.

As the details of the enumeration process for the former enclave residents remain unclear, those like Hossain and Abedin continue to pass their days in suspense, able to do little else than “wait and watch”.