NRC will end suspicion about illegal immigrants in Assam, says Congress

Congressman and leader of opposition in the Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia said the NRC will also stop harassment of people dubbed as foreigner merely on suspicion.

The Congress in Assam has said that the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published Saturday which excluded 1.9 million people will end suspicions that there were tens of millions of illegal immigrants in Assam.

Security personnel stand guard outside an NRC centre before the final draft publication in Guwahati.(PTI)

“With publication of the final list, the decades old suspicion that tens of millions of illegal immigrants are in Assam, will also end. It will also stop harassment of people dubbed as foreigner merely on suspicion. We would appeal to the public to maintain calm and fall prey to rumours,” said Debabrata Saikia, senior Congressman and leader of opposition in the Assam assembly.

Saikia also said that the Congress will provide legal aid to all genuine Indians who have been left out of the list.

“We are of the opinion that of the 1.9 million names missing from the list, there would be several who are genuine Indian citizens. Their names have not got included due a variety of factors--ex-parte judgements for failing to turn up for hearings, not getting notices for hearings on time, minor errors in names etc. We will provide legal aid to all genuine Indians,” Saikia said.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam which had initially enthusiastically supported the NRC exercise, made a u-turn to dub it erroneous claiming it included foreigners and left out Indians.

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he had lost all hope in the NRC as the Centre and the state government were discussing new ways to oust foreigners from the state.

“I have lost all hope in the NRC. I just want the day to pass off peacefully, without any incident,” IANS quoted him as saying ahead of the publication of the final list.

The complete draft of NRC released in July, 2018 had left out 4 million applicants. An additional list released in June this year, had excluded 100,000 more taking the total tally to 4.1 million before Saturday’s final list reduced it to half.