When the NRC (National Register of Citizens) was introduced in Assam, about 3 crore Muslims in West Bengal were anxious and worried and started digging in the sands of papers. The never-so-politically conscious Bengali Muslims of Bengal had neither any clues nor did they have leaders from their communities who could guide them in the exercise. https://thewire.in/communalism/what-it-means-to-be-a-bengali-muslim-in-india-today
Time is a monster. It eats up everything. And poverty and hunger are more conspicuous than anything. So, COVID-19 and the lockdown thereafter lulled the villainous NRC and thousands of migrant workers again started their journey in search of roti to different states, crammed into the general compartment of trains from Bengal to other places like Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu. All of them had the same name: migrant workers.
Bengali Muslim migrant workers are caught in the vortex of this and several have been mistreated and pushed into Bangladesh.
With the SIR implemented in Bihar, which the state’s people are calling votebandi (vote ban), the people of West Bengal, who are widely suffering from it, are calling it a new form of NRC. As a result, the ghost of 2019 NRC exercise has returned, or perhaps, it never died at all. People are once again running from pillar to post correcting names.
How can one correct the name of their dead ancestors? The answer remains unknown.
Why Muslim Names Are Often Misspelt And Mispronounced
There are many reasons for this to happen. Arabic names with colloquial pronunciations sometimes make it difficult for data collectors to spell names correctly. At the same time, the role of job stress among contractual workers, who are given this work, can’t be ignored.
by Moumita Alam
07/08/2025