Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Citizenship rights” (August 1). Citizens of Assam were up in arms against the illegal immigrants who were eating out their resources and land. An agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) in 1979, which culminated with then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signing the Assam Accord (1985) with the AASU on August 15, 1985.

But no concrete action was taken by the subsequent Governments. It is only now that the NDA Government released the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) this week.

The Supreme Court has said that the NRC exercise, being conducted under the court’s aegis to identify alleged aliens, will not stop but there will be no immediate fallout for the 40 lakh people who failed to make it to the NRC draft.

These people have the opportunity to prove their Indian citizenship and get included in the NRC. So, what was there for the Opposition to raise a storm and disrupt Parliament, and for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to make statements about civil war and bloodbath in the country?

AVOID escalation