Four years after the process was set in motion, the updated final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, which validates bonafide Indian citizens, was Saturday published with over 19 lakh people failing to make the cut and staring at an uncertain future and a long and arduous legal battle. Assam’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, main opposition Congress and All Assam Students Union, which had waged a six-year-long violent agitation against foreigners in Assam between 1979 and 1985 before the Assam Accord was signed envisaging the NRC, expressed unhappiness with the final NRC.
The AASU in fact said it would move the Supreme Court against “all the faults” in the final NRC.A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document leaving 19,06,657 excluded, a statement from the NRC State Coordinator's office said here. Those who have been excluded from the National Register of Citizens have 120 days to appeal against it at Foreigners Tribunals.
The Assam government has already ruled out detention of people who do not figure in the list "in any circumstances" till the time Foreigners Tribunals declare them foreigners. The final NRC hit the public domain at 10 am Indian time and the hard copies of the supplementary list of inclusions are available for public viewing at the NRC Seva Kendras (NSK), offices of the deputy commissioner and offices of the Circle Officer during office hours, a statement by the NRC authority said.
Hundreds of people began thronging these offices soon after the list was released, with many returning home happy and several others disappointed. Ramen Deka, the BJP lawmaker from Mangaldoi, said a large number of illegal Muslim immigrants made the cut while many indigenous people were left out. "We are not at all happy. A large number of Muslims have been enlisted while genuine Indian citizens have been left out. The exercise was conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court but the document is not up to the mark," he said.
Abdul Khaleque, the Congress lawmaker from Barpeta, said he was "not fully satisfied". "A lot of genuine names have been excluded," he said. AASU General Secretary Lirunjyoti Gogoi said "we are not happy at all. It seems there were some deficiencies in the updating process. We believe that it is an incomplete NRC. We will appeal to the Supreme Court to remove all the faults and discrepancies in this NRC."
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Gogoi said the final figure of exclusion did not even come close to the figures officially announced by authorities on various occasions. Assam Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, deplored that many people who came to India as refugees before 1971 were not included in the final citizenship roll.
He demanded that the Supreme Court allow reverification of at least 20 per cent of people included in the list in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 per cent in the rest of Assam,. A plea for re-verification by Assam and Indian governments was earlier rejected by the top court. "Names of many Indian citizens who migrated as refugees prior to 1971 have not been included in the NRC because authorities refused to accept refugee certificates. Many names got included because of manipulation of legacy data as alleged by many," he tweeted.
The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the NRC updation, called the final NRC a "flawed document". It said the citizenship roll could not become error-free because the apex court had turned down its demand for reverification. "The Final NRC has made it obvious that the problem of illegal immigration will never be resolved in Assam. If this NRC had been completed flawlessly, it would have gone down as a golden chapter in Assam's history," APW president Aabhijeet Sharma said.
