STATELESSNESS IN INDIA persecution.14 The accompanying Citizenship Amendment Bill failed to pass into law,15 but it did so in December 2019, making religion a criterion for obtaining citizenship in a secular India for the first time.16 (B) A dangerous precedent: Institutionalized discrimination in the state of Assam The issue of citizenship, more complex in the northeastern Indian state of Assam has had a history of violence and discrimination based on religious, ethnic and linguistic grounds.17 In 1951, a National Register of Citizens (“NRC”) was prepared only in Assam based on the census of that year.18 It was heavily criticized for the exclusion of Bengali speakers.19 Those excluded would often be left at the border in an unofficial “push back” policy derived from the unfettered powers under provisions of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950.20 However, its enforcement was stopped after international criticism in 1960s, as per a 2012 White Paper published by the Assam government.21 The Central Government then passed the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 which established Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) with a mandate to determine “whether a person is not a foreigner”. The Assam Border Police was simultaneously formed with unchecked powers to detect foreigners.22 14 Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015, Annexure K. The Economic Times, Citizenship amendment, triple talaq bills lapse, May 27, 2019. 16 Helen Regan, CNN, India passes controversial citizenship bill that excludes Muslims, December 17, 2019. 17 In a referendum held before India’s partition in 1947, political leaders in Assam wanted a part of India— Sylhet—to go to Pakistan. They feared that the retention of Syhlet in India with a large Bengali Muslim population would make the Assamese Hindu a religious and linguistic minority. It led to an anti-Muslim riot in Assam in 1950. Thousands of Muslim migrated to East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh). Some came back again after the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, 1950. 18 A Gauhati High Court decision reported in ALR 1970 (A&N) 206 held that 1951 NRC is not admissible as evidence invoking S. 15 of the Census Act, 1948.. 19 Amnesty International India, Between Fear and Hatred: Surviving Migration Detention In Assam, 2018, p. 10. 20 The Act gives the executive unfettered power to expel anyone as immigrants without judicial determination of their citizenship status. 21 Government of Assam, White Paper on Foreigners' Issues, October 20, 2012 (hereinafter, "White Paper on Foreigners' Issue, 2012"). 22 In 1964, the Assam state government passed the Prevention of Infiltration from Pakistan Act. A special security force known as the Border Police was created under this Act comprising about 2000 personnel. See, J.Joseph, RSIS Working Paper, No. 100, Securitization of illegal migration of Bangladeshis to India, 2006 15 3