Why in news?

Assam has invoked the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 for the first time since the state cabinet approved its use earlier this year. The Sonitpur district administration has ordered five people—four women and one man—who were declared foreigners by a tribunal in 2024, to leave India within 24 hours.

However, the individuals are currently untraceable, with police stating they have been “absconding,” and locals claiming they left the area over a decade ago.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950
• Application of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950

About Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950

• The Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act (IEAA) was enacted on March 1, 1950, in response to the Assam government’s demand for a legal mechanism to control large-scale migration from East Pakistan after Partition.
• Migration had already become a major political and demographic concern in the state.
• Why the Centre Drafted the Law?
  • Since citizenship is a Union subject, the Central government drafted the Act and delegated specific powers to Assam.
  • Originally, it was even named the Undesirable Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, highlighting its intent.
  • Recognising post-Partition instability, the Act excluded refugees, stating that people displaced due to “civil disturbances” in Pakistan would not be subject to expulsion under the law.
• Powers Granted Under the Act
  • The Act empowered the Centre to order anyone:
    • who was ordinarily a resident outside India,
    • who entered Assam before or after 1950, and
    • whose presence was deemed “detrimental” to India’s general public or to any Scheduled Tribe in Assam,
  • to remove themselves from Assam or India within a specified time and through a designated route.
  • The law authorised any officer of the Union government or Assam government to implement these expulsion orders.

Application of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950

• The Act was applied only briefly. Its enforcement faced practical and political challenges almost immediately after it came into effect.
• Communal Tension and Mass Exodus
  • Historians note that while the Act was being finalised, communal violence in Lower Assam led to 40,000 to 1 lakh Muslims fleeing to East Pakistan.
  • This made identification of “immigrants” difficult because many affected individuals were actually Assam’s original residents, especially Bengali Muslims.
  • A triggering incident involved an old Assamese Muslim resident being ordered to leave within three days, which angered the then PM Nehru.
  • He objected to the implementation of such orders during a sensitive time.
• Nehru–Liaquat Pact Influence
  • The timing coincided with the Nehru–Liaquat Pact (April 1950), aimed at safeguarding minorities in both India and Pakistan.
  • Pakistan’s PM Liaquat Ali Khan raised concerns about Assam’s expulsion orders.
• Centre Orders Suspension of the Act
  • On April 10, 1950, two days after the pact, Nehru wrote to the then Assam CM Gopinath Bordoloi instructing him to stop all action under the IEAA.
  • Nehru stressed that minority safety and restoring peace were the top priorities — continuing expulsions would worsen tensions.
  • Historical accounts suggest that only a few hundred people were actually impacted by the Act before its enforcement was halted.