‘NRC planned to make Bengalis stateless citizens’

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 25: Stating that the Bengalis settling in the Sate are whimsically made to suffer and defamed in the name of NRC, the All Assam Bengali Youth Federation (AABYF) said, “We are very much a part of the greater Assam. We never think of asking for neither Autonomous Council nor separate State within Assam. We simply want to stay as a loyal son of the soil of mother Assam. Is it our crime?” The AABYF said this while staging a mass protest at Dispur Last Gate on Tuesday.

The AABYF maintained, “Irrespective of party affiliations, caste, creed, religion and language, we all were quite positive and optimistic on the NRC. However, now we are forced to realize that the NRC is planned to turn the Bengalis as stateless citizens.”

The AABYF further argued that NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela’s decision over the dropping of five documents for filing claims and objections of those excluded in the final draft of the citizens’ registry is not rational. Considering all these, the AABYF has demanded to penalize the errant NRC officials, revoke Hajela’s decision to drop five documents and to include all the bona fide Indian’s names in the NRC.