Pre-publication draft September 2023 composition that was the central problem of immigration. This form of racialization — fusing ethnicity and religion — accompanied an explicit reference to national security. Second, there was a discrete shift in terms of the site of anti-immigration politics. From political discourse that demanded heightened control of border immigration, the site increasingly shifted to citizenship law. One of the early indications of both these dynamics was the report of SK Sinha, the Governor of Assam.36 Governors are centrally appointed nominal heads of states and are expected to serve as the bridge between the central and state governments. In 1998, Sinha wrote to the central government sharing his ‘views’ in a report, based on undisclosed conversations with civil society actors, security institutions and communities in the state. Most of Governor Sinha’s claims were anecdotal and were based on erroneous claims of data.37 Perhaps this report was a marginal event at the time, but in hindsight, the report’s framing and recommendations were both significant and consequential. The first important move in the report was the reframing of the immigration controversy from a regional concern to a concern of national defence. Sinha advocated that immigration was not merely threatening Assam’s local communities. It was threatening India’s geopolitical wellbeing. This was because, he insisted, immigration was part of the ‘long cherished design’ of creating a ‘greater Bangladesh’ by undermining India’s territorial integrity.38 From this view, immigration was a ‘continuing silent demographic invasion’ of the country.39 Thus, Sinha argued, ‘illegal migration’ from Bangladesh was ‘altering the demographic complexion’, and posed ‘a grave threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and to our national security’.40 This was a distinctively securitized interpretation of the immigration controversy. Second, Governor Sinha advocated interpreting this ‘demographic invasion’ not in terms of linguistic and ethnic implications of immigration, but in terms of religious identity. Relying on undisclosed sources, he asserted that immigration was turning the border districts of Assam ‘into a Muslim majority region’.41 ‘The rapid growth of international Islamic fundamentalism’, he argued, would ‘provide the driving force’ for merging these regions into Bangladesh.42 Governor Sinha recommended a series of exceptional legal measures. He suggested the repeal of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 (IMDT).43 Parliament had enacted the IMDT to substitute the Foreigners Tribunals in Assam. The tribunals under the IMDT Act were based on a more credible mechanism of the judicial assessment of citizenship status of individuals. It provided safeguards against targeting and harassment of genuine citizens and laid down judicial qualifications for tribunal members. Sinha claimed that these 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 SK Sinha, Report on Illegal Migration into Assam (Submission to the President of India, 8 November 1998). See eg Debarshi Das and Prasenjit Bose, ‘Assam NRC: Govt Clueless About How Many Illegal Immigrants Actually Live in India, RTI Shows’ Huffpost (New York, 31 January 2019) <www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/assam-nrc-govt-clueless-on-how-many-illegal-immigrants-actuallylive-in-india-rti-shows_a_23591448> accessed 1 March 2022. Das and Bose argue that the Indian government does not have accurate data estimating the scale of foreigners influx in Assam. Report on Illegal Migration into Assam (n 36) 3. ibid 1. ibid . ibid 10. ibid. Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983, Act No 39 of 1983. 9 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4111014