Amit Shah needs to be educated on NRC: Dr Rajdeep Roy

Silchar: The repeated political rhetoric of BJP national chief Amit Shah at public meetings and election rallies, dubbing NRC left outs as ‘foreigners’ or ‘Bangladeshis’ as well as using all sorts of names to dump them across the border have not gone well with the leaders, workers and supporters of the party in Barak Valley in particular and Assam in general. Last Saturday, while addressing an election rally at Gangpur in Rajasthan, he repeated it again. Such rhetoric has generated serious resentment and as Dr Rajdeep Roy, the state spokesperson of the party, said, “It will cost the party dearly at the ensuing Parliamentary elections of 2019”. More than that, as he added to say, it has added insult to the injury of the genuine Indian citizens now clubbed together with the doubtful applicants.

Dr Rajdeep Roy while calling such uncalled for statements on NRC from Amit Shah felt he needed to be properly educated by his advisors on the most sensitive and emotional issue with which is linked the fate of lakhs of bonafide Indian citizens. It is to be recalled just after Shailendra, Registrar General of India, and Prateek Hajela, state NRC coordinator, came out at a joint press-meet at Guwahati with the figure of more than 40 lakh applicants not making it to the final draft of NRC on July 31, Amit Shah among others felt exulted publicly at the fact that at last foreigners or Bangladeshis have been identified and it is time to push them back. And this became a refrain for him to repeat at his election rallies.

Shailendra and Hajela never said the left outs are Bangladeshis. Rather, the left outs will be given time to file claims and objections which begins from September 25 to end in 60 days. The exact number of foreigners among the left outs will be known not after the publication of the final draft but after all channels are explored and exhausted by the claimants as Indian citizens. The Supreme Court of India has also made it clear in one of its observation that the publication of the final draft does not mean the end of the process. The Apex Court, it is to be recalled, took serious exception to the joint press-meet of the RGI and the state coordinator at Guwahati, revealing the number of left outs.

Dharmananda Deb, leading advocate and a close observer of the ongoing NRC process, described the statement of Amit Shah on left outs as ‘most unfortunate and unbecoming of a national leader like him’. He said after the publication of the final draft, an aggrieved applicant can approach foreigners’ tribunal, then if not satisfied High Court and finally the Supreme Court. Moreover, dropping of 5 documents from the 15 listed for verification, which has triggered controversy and heated debate among the political parties and numerous organizations, might add to the number of left outs further. If the 5 documents, as Dharmananda Deb pointed out, are taken up for consideration, it might reduce the number of left outs.

It is a pity, said Dharmananda Deb, Amit Shah is not being properly briefed on the developments in Assam by his advisors. Or, it might be a calculated ploy or game plan to drive home the point that only BJP government can conduct NRC just to gain political mileage during the Lok Sabha elections as well as the assembly elections in three states. Whatever might be the behind the stage game plan, as things stand today at this moment, BJP stands at a disadvantage as Hindu Bengalis during the last Parliamentary and assembly polls voted en masse for the party. It is time, Dharmananda Deb observed, Amit Shah should make amends.