‘Exclude Foreigners, Include Sons of Soil’: Bodo Sahitya Sabha

* Indigenous people declared ineligible for inclusion in NRC should be included under stewardship of SC, without sending them to FTs

* Foreigners illegally making it to NRC should be excluded from citizens’ list and sent to FTs

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) has said that the foreigners who have made it to the final NRC ‘illegally’ have to be excluded from the citizens’ register and sent to the foreigners' tribunals (FTs). The literary body has also raised the demand for inclusion of the indigenous people of Assam (sons of the soil), who have been excluded from the NRC, into the citizens’ register under the stewardship of the Supreme Court, without sending them to FTs.

Addressing a press conference at Dispur Press Club on Friday, BSS president Toren Boro said: “All those declared ineligible for inclusion into the NRC should be identified through FTs so as to ensure their deportation. A large number of indigenous people’s names have been excluded from the NRC. Why have they been excluded? Instead of sending the indigenous people declared ineligible for inclusion into the NRC to the FTs, they should be included in the citizens’ register under the stewardship of the Supreme Court of India. On the contrary, the foreigners who have made it to the NRC illegally should be excluded from the citizens’ register and sent to the FTs to ensure their deportation.”

Bodo Sahitya Sabha vice president Kamala Kanta Mushahary, who was also present at the press conference, said: “Those who entered Assam from erstwhile East Pakistan have got Indian citizenship through the Assam Accord. A number of those who entered Assam from Bangladesh have also been detected through the NRC update. However, out of the over 19 lakh people excluded from the NRC, around four lakh are indigenous people of Assam. This implies that around 15 lakh people of suspected nationalities have been detected during the NRC exercise. Already there are around two lakh ‘D’ voters in the State. The first duty on the part of the government is to deport these 17 lakh (15 lakh NRC ineligible and two lakh ‘D’ voters) suspected nationalities through trials in FTs. If an NRC is prepared at the national level taking 1951 as the cut-off year, Assam should also be included in that.”

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