What is legal may not always be humane. The quandary, between what needs to be done in accordance to the law and what is demanded by the principle of justice, has been reinforced, once again, with the publication of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam. Over 40 lakh applicants - more than 10 per cent of the state's population - have been left out of the draft citizens register that was updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court. There can be no doubting the objective of such an exercise. States with porous international borders - Assam is one example - have, over the years, borne the brunt of immigrations brought about by the quirks of history and politics. One of the consequences of these migrations has been discernible shifts in demography which, in turn, have fanned anxieties among specific ethnic groups. The unrest that Assam witnessed over the demand to deport migrants is a case in point. Politics has been a beneficiary of these fissures, catapulting identity to the centre stage of democratic contests. The strains of this kind of politics are, evidently, durable. The Bharatiya Janata Party has thundered that it would, if voted to power in neighbouring Bengal, evict immigrants 'by the scruff of the neck'. The BJP, characteristically, remains impervious to the difficulties of sifting bona fide citizens from infiltrators. In Assam, there have been reports of families failing to make it to the list in spite of submitting requisite proof. Meanwhile, the BJP's opponents are alleging that the party is eager to utilize such registers as tools to target minorities.

The politicization of citizenship has ended up clouding some fundamental concerns. For instance, the amendment of the NRC has revealed that several constituencies - the poor, the illiterate, the displaced, women - with legitimate claims of citizenship can be vulnerable to exclusion because of the paucity of valid documents. Is digital documentation the answer to their plight? India's patchy technological apparatus and the chinks in digital enumeration raise serious questions in this respect. There is also the matter of the fate and rights of the Stateless. Deportation could upend diplomatic ties. Nations, especially those with limited resources, are unlikely to vouch for the protection that is demanded by international law. Compassion and empathy are the key to confront these complex questions. But insular societies lack these very attributes.