NEW DELHI: India will not send people left out of in the NRC National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the border into Bangladesh, senior government sources said.

They added that the Centre was engaged with the Sheikh Hasina administration at the highest levels to assure them that regardless of the final outcome of the NRC exercise, there would be no movement of people to the neighbouring country.

The assurance is important as it comes in the wake of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee ’s rash statements about a civil war and damaged ties with Bangladesh. The government is also sensitive to the fact that such statements from Indian leaders and the media might play adversely in a pre-election environment in Bangladesh. Sources here said India had spoken to Bangladesh before the NRC issue became public.

“We have stressed that this is a draft, not the final report. This is an internal matter and should not bleed into our ties with Bangladesh,” a source said.

India’s high commissioner to Dhaka Harsh Shringla met Bangladeshi foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and transport minister Obaidul Quader (also the head of Awami League, the ruling party) in the past couple of days. In Delhi, MEA officials have been sensitising visiting Bangladesh leaders from different parties. Bangladeshi information minister Hasanul Haque Inu has gone on record to insist that Dhaka had nothing to do with the NRC.

In the coming days, India will send a second batch of humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, in Myanmar, the government will be handing over pre-fabricated homes for returning Rohingya refugees to the Rakhine administration. Both these actions are intended to reaffirm India’s support to Bangladesh on the refugee issue. To divert attention from the NRC, India and Bangladesh are also getting ready to inaugurate new projects.

However, persistent voices within the media and civil society in India are having an effect in Bangladesh, which remains a matter of concern for the Indian government. To many, the NRC issue could not have come at a worse time, months before crucial Bangladeshi elections. Sources in Dhaka said cautionary voices were getting louder, asking Hasina to be more aggressive against India. “The Rohingya issue started out as a so-called internal matter. See where that ended up. What’s the guarantee this won’t as well?” a source said.

