There are 40-lakh odd people who were facing the risk of deportation or being rendered stateless after their names did not figure out in Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
BJP president Amit Shah framed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as a filter to keep out “illegal” Bangla migrants — saying “Bharat ka koi bhi nagarik ko chinta karne ki zaroorat nahin hai (No citizen of India has any reason to be concerned).”
There are many people in the state of Assam who are living there since ages but even then their names are not included in the NRC, from a 72-year-old retired school teacher in Guwahati to a 25-year-old Bengali-speaking Muslim from Lakhimpur, from a 62-year-old MLA in Abhayapuri to a 26-year-old social worker from Tinsukia and including a sitting MLA.
Ananta Kumar Malo, 62, is a sitting MLA of the AIUDF from the SC-reserved Abhayapuri South constituency. Though he and his brother has provided the same credentials for NRC, his brother was included but he is not. “I am sure it will be corrected in the next round,” said MLA. Masuma Begum, 25, is a Bengali-speaking Muslim, though her 3 siblings and parents made it in NRC, she did not. “My siblings also drew their legacy from the same documents that I did, this is illogical,” she said. Sati Purakayastha, 72, a retired school teacher, though everyone from her family was included in NRC, she was not.
Sarbat Ali, 46, who teaches at a local school. Two of his three children, Rose Ahmed (13) and Razib Ahmed (6), did not find a mention in the NRC draft. ‘We will apply again’ they said. Similarly, there are many people who are not included in NRC, and the Supreme Court asked the Centre to formulate modalities and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) including timelines for deciding claims and objections arising out of the publication of the draft NRC.
SIASAT NEWS