This archive report was first published on 29 August 2019.
Published on August 29, 2019, a draft register of citizens in Assam left off more than four million people, raising concerns about the Indian government's intentions nationwide.
The Indian home ministry has sought to ease concerns about the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a final version of which is due to be published on Saturday.
"DO NOT BELIEVE RUMOURS ABOUT NRC," a spokesperson for the Indian home ministry tweeted in capital letters, referring to the final NRC.
According to the spokesperson, non-inclusion of a person's name in NRC does not amount to being declared a foreigner. Individuals left out from the final NRC can appeal to Foreigners Tribunals, an increased number of which are being established.
Assam, an isolated state of 33 million people in the northeast of India, has a complex history. The state was largely cut off from the rest of the country by Bangladesh, which was formed after East Pakistan declared independence from Islamabad in 1971, sparking a brutal war.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled to India during the fighting, and the legacy of this event continues to shape the state's demographics.
Those appealing against exclusion from the NRC need to be able to prove they or their forebears were in India before 1971, a huge challenge for people in a state where illiteracy is rife and where many lack the necessary documentation.
The roughly two million people who are expected to be left off the final register will have 120 days to appeal.
Those rejected can then be declared foreigners and face being stripped of their Indian citizenship and rights, put in a detention camp and even deported.
A majority of those affected are Muslims, and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) say this reflects its aim to serve only its co-religionists.
