Assam’s new SOP on illegal migration: Policy shift or political calculus?

In a move heavy with both political and historical weight, the Assam Cabinet on Tuesday approved coved a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to implement the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, in what Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma described as the beginning of a more "expedited" crackdown on illegal migrants in the State.

District Commissioners (DCs) will now have the authority to issue evacuation orders against individuals deemed foreigners. Suspected persons will be served a 10-day notice, during which they must prove their Indian citizenship. Failure to do so would result in their removal to a holding centre, pending deportation by the BSF. If DCs are unable to determine the individual's status, they may refer the matter to the Foreigners' Tribunals (FTs).

The Chief Minister, justifying the step, cited the Supreme Court's affirmation of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which, while upholding the Assam Accord, left space for State action under the older 1950 legislation. The relevance of the 1950 Act was also emphasised by the apex court in the Sarbananda Sonowal verdict.

The migration question in Assam is not new-it is deeply rooted in the colonial and post-colonial fabric of the region. During the 1800s, the East India Company brought in Bangla-speaking labourers to meet the demands of Assam's burgeoning tea plantations. The sparsely populated State became a magnet for migration, a trend that intensified post-Partition. T

he 1961 Census estimated over 2.2 lakh illegal migrants had entered Assam from East Pakistan. In response, the Project Prevention of Infiltration of Pak Nationals (PIP) was initiated in 1962. By 1964, over 1.7 lakh individuals were reportedly pushed back, but these actions drew international attention and criticism. Pakistan even took the matter to the United Nations, alleging human rights violations.

The influx worsened in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War, when a humanitarian crisis pushed lakhs of refugees into Assam. Tensions over the cultural and linguistic impact of Bangla-speaking migrants eventually led to the Assam Agitation, the signing of the Assam Accord (1985), and the adoption of Section 6A in the Citizenship Act. Despite multiple laws, the problem of undocumented migration remains unresolved, legally and politically.

While the SOP may be legally grounded, the timing of this announcement is not lost on observers. With Assembly elections scheduled for early next year, and the BJP already in power since 2016, critics may view this move as a strategic attempt to consolidate electoral gains rather than resolve a decades-old problem.

At its core, the question remains: Is this a genuine policy shift to address illegal migration, or a politically expedient performance? The Assam government's SOP marks a bold attempt to tackle illegal migration through existing laws. But the risks of misuse and the political timing of the move call for vigilant scrutiny.