Why a scholar of citizenship is taking on Bengal SIR exclusions

For years, anthropologist Adil Hossain has studied the politics of citizenship and written extensively about the subject. But the special intensive revision of voter rolls in West Bengal made the 39-year-old scholar’s own life what he calls a “laboratory of citizenship”.

Despite possessing a passport and land records dating back to the 1950s, Hossain’s name was removed from the electoral roll of his village in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, weeks ahead of the Assembly elections. On April 23, the day of the vote in his constituency, his parents and his sister went to the polling booth, while he had to stay at home.

“All of a sudden, it dawned on me that the things I have read about are happening to me now,” said Hossain, who teaches at a private university in India. “It was very unsettling. I felt a sense of alienation. This is hierarchical citizenship. Others could go and vote, but I could not.”

The special intensive revision removed over 91 lakh names from the voter list of Bengal. This figure nearly matched the Bharatiya Janata Party’s claims that there were one crore “Bangladeshis, Rohingyas” on the electoral rolls of the state.

The Election Commission, though, has not disclosed how many foreigners, if any, it identified...

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