Asom Andolan Sangrami Manch to move Supreme Court against Amit Shah

NRC OR CAB

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Asom Andolan Sangrami Manch has decided to move the Supreme Court against BJP national president Amit Shah for allegedly defying the apex court’s authority by saying that the BJP would draw up the NRC across the country only after passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who is also the chief adviser of the Sangrami Manch, said the Manch has already discussed the issue with legal experts and would move the Supreme Court against Shah within the next ten days.

Shah had said in Kolkata on Monday that if voted back to power at the Centre, the BJP would pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and then draw up the NRC for the entire country to identify infiltrators. Shah also said the NRC would not be applicable for the Hindu refugees taking shelter in the country. The NRC is a register containing the names of all genuine Indian citizens. Only Assam has an NRC in the country, prepared on the basis of the 1951 census. It is being updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court, which has set July deadline for publication of the final NRC.

“The Supreme Court has been monitoring the NRC update. It has July 31, 2019 as the deadline for publication of the final NRC. Notwithstanding such development, Shah has dared to say that the BJP would update the NRC only after passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Shah has tried to dilute the entire NRC update exercise by making such statement,” Advocate Dilip Choudhury who is one of the convenors of the Sangrami Manch said.

Advocate Choudhury said the BJP should have displayed its sincerity by upgrading the NRC in Assam before talking of implementing the same exercise in the entire country that too after brining the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. He said Shah’s statement is not only a disobedience to the SC monitored NRC update exercise but also a threat to identity, culture & language of indigenous people of Assam.

The Asom Andolan Sangrami Manch , a platform of individuals and organizations participated in the historic anti-foreigners’ movement has been raising its strong opposition against the Centre’s move to grant citizenship status to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh since the government issued a notification in this regard in 2015.

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