“NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster

This article considers the demands for azadi (freedom) from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that were central to the protests that swept through India over 2019-2020. It does so by considering the processes through which such a gargantuan bureaucratic exercise would be executed as well as th...

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Main Author: Nayanika Mathur
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6917
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author Nayanika Mathur
author_facet Nayanika Mathur
author_sort Nayanika Mathur
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description This article considers the demands for azadi (freedom) from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that were central to the protests that swept through India over 2019-2020. It does so by considering the processes through which such a gargantuan bureaucratic exercise would be executed as well as through a consideration of its attachment to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This leads to a conceptualization of the NRC as a “paper monster” possessed of the power to divide and devour India. The article argues that the bureaucratic processes demanded by the NRC would greatly exacerbate the violence of paperwork that lies at the heart of the Indian state. The NRC will strengthen the longstanding dubiousness associated with all documents and can only culminate in the creation of an alternate paper-based reality of who really is an Indian.
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spelling doaj.art-624d9f14386e4a4cb1ea8aff100d8b8a2024-02-12T15:39:07ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602410.4000/samaj.6917“NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper MonsterNayanika MathurThis article considers the demands for azadi (freedom) from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that were central to the protests that swept through India over 2019-2020. It does so by considering the processes through which such a gargantuan bureaucratic exercise would be executed as well as through a consideration of its attachment to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This leads to a conceptualization of the NRC as a “paper monster” possessed of the power to divide and devour India. The article argues that the bureaucratic processes demanded by the NRC would greatly exacerbate the violence of paperwork that lies at the heart of the Indian state. The NRC will strengthen the longstanding dubiousness associated with all documents and can only culminate in the creation of an alternate paper-based reality of who really is an Indian.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6917
spellingShingle Nayanika Mathur
“NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
title “NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
title_full “NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
title_fullStr “NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
title_full_unstemmed “NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
title_short “NRC se Azadi”: Process, Chronology, and a Paper Monster
title_sort nrc se azadi process chronology and a paper monster
url https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6917
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