Re-Verify NRC Documents After Publication: BJP Assam Pradesh

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Barely four days to go for the publication of the final NRC. However, the BJP Assam Pradesh has demanded the government to re-verify all documents submitted by NRC applicants after the publication of the final NRC. The route map for such a possibility shown by the State BJP unit is – after its submission to the RGI (Register General of India) the National Register of Citizens will be a state subject, a situation that will pave the way for the government to re-verify all NRC documents.

Addressing the press in Guwahati on Monday, State BJP president Ranjit Kumar Das said: “The NRC going to be published on August 31, 2019 is likely to be an erroneous one – with names of many foreigners and without names of many genuine Indians staying in Assam. How can we be satisfied with an NRC that has no names of Indian army personnel, family members of freedom fighters and those associated with the Assam Agitation? Once submitted to the RGI, the NRC will be a state subject, letting the government to re-verify all documents submitted by NRC applicants. In the event of names of genuine Indians getting dropped from the National Register of Citizens, we appeal to the government to do the needful though legislation in the State Assembly or amendment by the Parliament. We also appeal to both the State and the Central governments to keep the process of investigation of suspected foreigners alive even after the publication of the final NRC and take follow-up action.”

Ranjit Kumar Das said: “State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela has been working at the suggestions of a few parties and organizations and at his own whims. Such an attitude on his part has made the NRC going to be published fraught with the risk of being a faulty one. We gave a representation to Hajela for the inclusion of five documents. He, however, spoke ill of our general secretary, now an MP, Dillip Saikia. On the contrary, he was very accommodative to other parties and organizations. Both the State and the Central Governments raised the demand for 10-20 per cent re-verification in the interest of a correct NRC. The demand was ignored. Hajela informed the Supreme Court of India that 27 per cent re-verification had already been done. We came to know from many officials involved in the NRC update exercise that more time would have ensured a better NRC. There has been no official verification of the documents submitted by NRC applicants.”

Das further said: “Being an elected government the State government had to right to extend suggestions in the NRC update. However, on July 13, 2017 the Supreme Court of India cautioned the State government from any interference in the NRC exercise. How can the government ensure an error-free NRC as being demanded by a few organizations?”

On the positive side, Dass said that the State BJP hails the government’s decision to give 120-day time for moving foreigners tribunals after the publication of the final NRC against 60 days earlier. He said the total cost of the NRC exercise is Rs 1,200 crore. “However, if only a single genuine Indian’s name gets dropped from the NRC, the human value will be manifold more than the total NRC expenditure,” he said.

Dass also urged the 40 lakh BJP members in the State to stand by the side of genuine Indians with their names not figuring in the final NRC. He also appealed to the people in general to keep faith in the laws of the land in the post-NRC situation.

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