With the publication of NRC (National Register of Citizens) list in Assam, as many as 19 lakh people are left with no credibility of Indian citizenship. NRC list was published on 31 August on the orders of Supreme Court.
The final list excludes over 19 lakh people, while a total of 3.11 crore names have been included in the list. This has created an environment of uproar in the state. Not only people have shown their dissatisfaction over the final publication, but various opposition leaders have also slammed the ruling party for leaving out ‘genuine’ Indians.
Speaking to media, former Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi said, “Lakhs of Indian citizens have been excluded from the NRC. Many Indians, especially Bengali Hindus, have been excluded in the citizen list. Many foreigners have made it to the citizen list. The BJP has to explain what went wrong. We are not communalising NRC. A foreigner is a foreigner. We will oppose BJP’s attempts to communalize NRC.”
Chhatisgarh’s former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has also called out on government to revisit the NRC data make ure that no genuine citizen gets left behind. However, BJP national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday called out for implementing NRC like exercise all over the nation.
JD-U leader Prashant Kishor, on the other hand, termed the NRC exercise as “botched-up” which left genuine citizens as foreigners in their country. Even BJP’s own senior leader in Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma pointed out the issue of ‘manipulation of legacy data’.
Names of many Indian citizens who migrated from Bangladesh as refugees prior to 1971 have not been included in the NRC because authorities refused to accept refugee certificates. Many names got included because of manipulation of legacy data as alleged by many 1/2
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (Modi Ka Parivar) (@himantabiswa) August 31, 2019
To allay the fears, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has promised to help the excluded people with legal assistance. He also told that the Home Ministry is providing its complete support and appropriate measures for appeal has been chalked out for the relief.
Without pointing to anyone specifically, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has termed the NRC exercise as “fiasco”. As quoted by ANI, she said, “The NRC fiasco has exposed all those who tried to take political mileage out of it. They have a lot to answer to the nation. This is what happens when an act is guided by an ulterior motive rather than the good of the society and the larger interest of the nation.”
Disappointed with the list, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has decided to appeal against the publication of NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Supreme Court.
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