Register rerun sparks protests Congress slams new NRC bid

TT, Guwahati, 22.11.19: The Assam unit of the Congress on Thursday opposed the Centre’s move to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) again in the state, saying it would ruin the state’s social fabric.

Assam PCC president Ripun Bora said they would not accept scrapping of the existing NRC that was updated after years of effort under monitoring of the Supreme Court and after completion of a series of scrutiny processes of the papers of 3.29 crore applicants, “spending more than Rs 1,600 crore of public money”.

On Wednesday, Union home minister Amit Shah said the NRC would be prepared across the country including in Assam, making the BJP’s rejection of the final NRC published on August 31 this year in Assam clear.

Assam cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma disclosed on Wednesday that the state government had earlier requested the Centre to reject the final NRC published in Assam and supported the Centre’s decision to prepare a countrywide NRC.

“If the NRC process is restarted in Assam by scrapping the existing NRC as stated by Shah and Sarma, it will not only create turmoil, but will also ruin the social fabric of Assam,” Bora said.

Barring former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Congress leaders had earlier welcomed the final NRC and promised legal help to genuine Indians whose names were among the 19.06 lakh people left out of it.

Bora said instead of scrapping the existing NRC, the government should start the process to facilitate 19.06 lakh people to file their appeal before the foreigners tribunals (FTs). He claimed that a majority of the 19.06 lakh left out people would turn out to be Indians when they petition the FTs.

As the NRC authorities are yet to issue rejection certificates, the people whose names were left out are unable to approach the FTs. The state government is ready with 100 more FTs. At present, the NRC office is running without a convener.

The pilot process to update the NRC was done in 2010. It was put on hold after facing protests from a minority students’ union. The update process gained momentum when the Supreme Court in 2014 set a deadline to carry forward and complete the process. The state government admitted that development work to the tune of 1,600 crore were hampered because of deployment of over 50,000 of its employees in the NRC update exercise. In the process, a number of applicants had died, some of them in accidents while going to attend verifications and others reportedly in panic.

Jakir Hussain Sikdar, a Congress MLA, alleged that by updating the NRC again the BJP was trying to harass the minorities. “If there is any mistake in the final NRC, the government should correct it. If it is updated again 50,000 government employees will have to work again and another Rs 1,600 crore will be spent. This is unacceptable. The BJP government is just trying to harass the religious minorities,” he said.

On Thursday Sarma tweeted that the Assam NRC should be scrapped.

“The Assam NRC failed to address aspirations of people and therefore should be scrapped. Union home minister Amit Shah has rightly called for a national NRC for the country and we should be part of that,” he said.