Indian authorities have announced the exclusion of about two million people from the final list of citizenship in the state of Assam in eastern India, which means stripping them of citizenship and the rights of Indian citizenship.
This comes as part of a campaign to document citizenship supported by the government of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, claiming to fight what it calls irregular migrants from Bangladesh.
The campaign was widely criticized as an attempt to target and deport millions of Muslim minorities, stripping them of Indian citizenship and considering them as foreign immigrants in their country.
The final publication of the Citizenship Documentation List also raised fears of increased suicides and the establishment of large Muslim concentration camps.
Irregular migrants have been bored for years in Assam, one of India's poorest states, where residents accuse foreigners said to be Bangladeshis of robbing their jobs and land tenure.
Officials examined documents submitted by some 33 million people to draft draft records of Assam citizens released last year and excluded more than four million people, mostly Hindus.
The state's National Registry Coordinator, Prateek Hagila, said in a statement that the final list of the registry included 31.1 million citizens, which means excluding 1.9 million names.
He added, "Anyone who objects to the outcome of the examination of applications and grievances must appeal to the courts of foreigners," pointing out that everyone had the opportunity to hear enough.
Those who are excluded have 120 days to prove citizenship before the hundreds of quasi-judicial bodies in the provinces, known as “foreign courts”, and if they determine that the person concerned is an illegal refugee, they can appeal to higher courts.
Critics of the ruling party accuse its officials of stoking resentment against illegal immigrants and using the registration process to target Muslims, even if they are legitimate citizens.