"I too am a Citizen of India", Says Meghalaya Woman Married to South Salmara Man, who has been Left out of Assam NRC

South Salmara, September 3, 2019:

Many residents of Assam have cried foul after the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on Saturday. Over nineteen lakh people were excluded from the list. This list includes over one lakh from the Gorkha community, who have been marked as 'D'. Many villagers living in South Salmara LAC in Assam have also expressed their grief at being left out of the 'definitive list of citizenship.

Those left out of the NRC include women who hail from Meghalaya. They settled in the district after marrying men from Assam in the area which borders Meghalaya.

One of the villagers, said, "Many of us have been excluded. All of the people documents from Meghalaya I am a daughter of Meghalaya, gave my father's documents. Been living here for 25 years, and yet, it is not enough."

These Meghalaya women have alleged that their names were excluded from the list, despite giving all the necessary documents. "I am a citizen of India, but I am worried", she says.

The people of South Salmara have expressed that the women the men of the village have married, who originally hail from India, have been left out. "Their documents that they have brought from Meghalaya, have been rejected by the Assam Government", a local said.

In South Salmara alone, around 5,000 brides of Assam from Meghalaya have been included. The locals have demanded a separate Foreigners Tribunal to look into the affairs of the Meghalaya brides.

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