Splinters in the Citizenship of India, Legality, and Social Trauma: National Register of Citizens

ABSTRACT The article studies the process of National Register of citizens in relation to the changing Indian citizenship laws. Scholars note that the Indian citizenship was based on Jus Soli, but gradually it is changing to Jus Sanguinis which is leading to an exclusionary framework (Roy 2020; Jayal 2019a). The process of exclusion is based on ‘foreigner’, which is in constant flux in the context of post-colonial India. The foreigner as conceptualized by Assamese leadership is based on regional and historical markers, whereas the Indian state understands foreigner as ‘not Indian’. The article argues that the exercise of NRC is reformulating the conception of ‘foreigner’ and simultaneously introducing new forms of legality to acquire citizenship through the bureaucratic process of documentation. The article shows how citizenship laws are changing by taking region based specific concerns that are rooted in colonial history which are devising exclusionary forms of citizenship.