Arrested development

People of Chinese origin who were living in Kolkata and other towns in Bengal and Assam, whose ancestors had migrated to India in search of better opportunities, were put in internment camps in 1962.

THE DEOLI WALLAHS: The True Story of the 1962 Chinese-Indian Internment

Author:  Joy Ma and Dilip D’Souza

Publisher: Pan Macmillan India

Price: Rs 650
 

Who precisely can legitimately claim to be an Indian citizen is now the subject of vigorous debate in the country following the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the internment in Assam’s detention centres of those who have been designated “foreigners” after work began on compiling a National Register of Citizens (NRC). However, this is not the first time that people living in India for generations have been placed in internment camps . That happened in 1962 to