Assam NRC Final List 2019 Highlights: India Is Not Dharamshala, Says Himanta Sarma

The ruling BJP on Saturday said they do not trust the updated National Register of Citizens, specifically prepared for Assam, and appealed to the central and the state governments to prepare a nationwide NRC.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP Assam President Ranjeet Kumar Dass said the final NRC contains very small figure of exclusions compared to officially stated figures earlier.

"We do not trust this NRC... We are very unhappy...We appeal to the central and the state governments to prepare a national level NRC," he added.

Security was beefed up in Mizoram and police stations and border outposts along the 123 km Mizoram-Assam border were alerted on Saturday in view of the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in neighbouring Assam, Mizoram Inspector General of Police (Headquarters) John Neihlaia said.

Police personnel have been deployed along the Assam border to prevent any untoward incident due to the publication of the NRC final list and also to prevent possible influx of those left out of it into Mizoram, Neihlaia told PTI.

"The border areas were peaceful with no report of any incidents till this evening.

"Arrangements are also in place to rush additional forces to face any eventuality arising out of publication of the final NRC in Assam," he added.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) on Saturday it is unhappy with the figure of exclusions in the final National Register of Citizens and will move the Supreme Court for remedial measures.

The AASU is a signatory to the Assam Accord, a 1985 document that provided for "detection, deletion and deportation" of illegal foreigners from Assam.

The NRC in the state has been updated under the monitoring of the Supreme Court to include only genuine Indian nationals.

"We are not happy at all. It seems there were some deficiencies in the updatation 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," AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi was quoted as saying by PTI.

BJP attempting to hoodwink people through NRC, said former Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi, quoted by news agency PTI

Ruling BJP fails to ensure free and fair NRC, former Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was quoted as saying by PTI.

If you feel giving shelter to those Hindus thrown out of different countries is communal, I don't know what is communal. India is not a dharamshala (guesthouse), he says.

Till Indian interests are threatened, the fight will go on, he adds.

Soon after the much awaited final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam was released on Saturday morning, several Congress leaders met party interim President Sonia Gandhi to apprise her about the issue, reported news agency IANS.

The Congress leaders from the Northeast region including former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and party MP Gaurav Gogoi met Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi. The meeting between the three leaders lasted for over an hour.

After meeting Sonia Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi told reporters: "We have apprised Soniaji about the issue and she along with other senior leadership will take a party stand on the NRC issue."

"Every section of Assam is unhappy with the status of NRC. Even BJP Ministers are complaining. Careless implementation will result in many genuine Indian citizens to unnecessarily face the courts. Congress will provide all help. Nation above politics is our motto," Mr Gogoi tweeted later.

The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updation of the National Register of Citizens six years ago, said the final NRC turned out to be a "flawed document" because its prayer for re-verification of the draft list was rejected by the top court, reported PTI.

The NGO also wondered whether the software used in the updation exercise was capable to handle so much data and if it was examined by any third party Information Technology expert, APW president Aabhijeet Sharma said.

"The Final NRC has made it obvious that the problem of illegal immigration will never be resolved in Assam. Had it been completed flawlessly, it would have been a golden chapter in Assam's history," Mr Sharma was quoted as saying by PTI after the final NRC was released, excluding names of over 19 lakh applicants.

The BJP should learn a lesson, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said today.  "They should stop asking for NRC throughout the country in terms of Hindus & Muslims. They should learn from what has happened in Assam. The so-called myth of illegal migrants has been busted," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

"I have my own doubts that the BJP through Citizen Amendment Bill can bring a bill wherein they can try to give citizenship to all non-Muslims, which will again be a violation of Right to Equality," he said. 

Speaking to NDTV, former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said: "Lakhs of Indian citizens have been excluded from the NRC. Many Indians, especially Bengali Hindus, have been excluded in the citizen list. Many foreigners have made it to the citizen list. The BJP has to explain what went wrong. We are not communalising NRC. A foreigner is a foreigner. We will oppose BJP's attempts to communalise NRC."

"A total of 3,11,21,004 persons found eligible for inclusion in final NRC leaving out 19,06,657 persons including those who did not submit their claims.Those not satisfied with outcome can file appeal before Foreigners Tribunals," Prateek Hajela, State Coordinator, NRC has been quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

The first list of Assam citizens list was first published in Assam in 1951. When the draft NRC was published on July 30 last year, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it.

"There is a thin line between nationalism and xenophobia -besides, hatred of the foreigner could later turn into a hatred of Indians different from oneself." -- Rabindranath Tagore. The prescience of a great man," tweets Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. 

The Assam government will provide legal aid to those who will be excluded from the state's National Register for Citizens (NRC), Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Friday, ahead of the final publication of the list on August 31. Referring to the centre's notice that said no person would be treated as a foreigner until the Foreigners Tribunal declares so, he promised that ample opportunities will be provided to the people to prove their nationality. Read here 

 The Assam government has said that legal help will be provided to people who are not included in the NRC.  The Home Ministry said at least 1,000 tribunals will be set up in phases to hear disputes; 100 tribunals are already open and 200 more will be set up in the first week of September.  What are the options for those excluded from assam citizens' list? Read here 

"We just want NRC to pass off well peacefully and we will ensure it. But with the release of this list, we want to get rid of foreigners. In Dispur and Delhi, we have already started fresh strategy on how we can drive out the illegal migrants and we will so come up with new plans," Mr Sarma said. 

"The NRC is no quarter final... semi final and final for driving out BANGLADESHIS , wait a while you will see more finals under the BJP regime... see how we drive them out," he added.