Express News Service
GUWAHATI: The Congress in Assam on Thursday petitioned Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging him to prevent possible deletion of names of lakhs of people from the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the “complete draft” of which will be published on July 30.
In a memorandum submitted to Singh, Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora said: “So far, the inputs that we have received from different parts of the state, the names of several lakhs of Indian citizens will find no place in the draft NRC due to some political interferences of the Assam government where they wanted to misuse the NRC for political gain by creating religious polarization”.
The Congress said it was surprising that the Supreme Court directed the deletion of names of 1.5 lakh people which figured in the first draft published on December 31 last year.
“Apart from keeping on hold the names of 1.25 lakh D-voters (doubtful voters) and their descendants, the names of approximately 90 thousand declared foreigners and their descendants will not appear in the draft NRC of July 30. In addition, the names of another 1.72 lakh persons and their descendants, whose cases are pending in the foreigners’ tribunals, will also not appear in the draft NRC…We have specific information that names of several lakhs of (people belonging to) religious minority, linguistic minority and Nepali population will be deleted from the draft NRC,” the Congress said.
The party said although the SC allowed considering certificates issued by village authorities as linkage proof in the case of married women, the officers at NRC seva kendras rejected them during verification of documents with certain motive. As such, the names of several lakhs of women will not appear in the draft NRC, the Congress said.
The party alleged that a number of D-voters, who were declared as Indian citizens by the foreigners’ tribunals, were again served notices as D-voters. Even some families belonging to original inhabitant, freedom fighters, son of the soil are also made as D-voters to deprive them of registering their names in the NRC, it alleged.
“Now there is panic on this issue everywhere in Assam. If, as we apprehend, the names of several lakhs of genuine Indian citizens are left out, it will not only be an injustice but abuse of Constitutional powers. And, this way, people will lose faith in the administrative system of the country. Apart from this, some vested interested groups and anti-social elements may take advantage to create social unrest by provoking those genuine Indian people whose names are left out,” the Congress said.
The party urged Singh to intervene in the matter before the publication of the NRC complete draft.
