New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be reviewed.
Hemant Sarma told media persons in Guwahati, “We had said earlier also that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be reviewed and it should be done afresh. We are in discussions with All Assam Students Union (AASU) ” Youth programme, as reported by news agency ANI.
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Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora last week said that the state government has decided to move the Supreme Court for re-verification of the National Register of Citizens (which was published in August 2019).
Speaking to ANI, Atul Bora had said, “The decision was taken during a meeting with All Assam Students Union (AASU) and other indigenous organizations. We will not accept the list of NRC which was published in August 2019 Now we have decided to move the Supreme Court seeking re-verification.”
Notably, last week there was a meeting between the Assam government and the AASU leadership on the implementation of the Assam Accord.
AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya had said that the names of many illegal Bangladeshi people were included in the final list of the NRC as he sought their removal, ANI reported.
“So we want that, the NRC list should be re-verified. We have already filed a petition before the Supreme Court. We urge both the Center and the states to also give them a proper NRC in the Supreme Court. should approach.” Dr. Bhattacharya had said.
NRC is a register containing the names of Indian citizens, which was prepared only in 1951. It is being updated for Assam to trace illegal migrants.
The first list of NRC was first published in Assam in 1951.
When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The names of 2.9 crore people were included in the draft NRC out of a total of 3.29 crore applications.
The updated list of citizens was published in August 2019 in which 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants were excluded.
(with agency input)