"New NRC will cause more harassment to people of Assam", claims Congressman Debabrata Saikia

GUWAHATI: Debabrata Saikia, the leader of the Opposition in Assam today stated that he has "observed certain worrisome and suspicious aspects of an affidavit filed recently in the Hon’ble Gauhati High Court by the incumbent State Coordinator of NRC (SCNRC), Hitesh Dev Sarma." Stating that an "error-free NRC is the common objective of all of us," Saikia added that Sarma’s assertions create the impression that he is preparing a blueprint to re-do the NRC update process in line with the BJP’s new NRC agenda, which will result in more harassment for the people of Assam.

"First of all, Sarma has taken recourse to a technicality and claimed that the NRC which was published on 31st August, 2019 was not the final NRC but merely a “supplementary list”. He has mentioned in the affidavit that the NRC will be considered as final only when the document is published by the Registrar General of India (RGI)," Saikia pointed out.

"However, Sarma has stated almost in the same breath that he had pointed out “all the anomalies” in the NRC vide a letter to the RGI on 20th February this year and sought “necessary directions for corrective measures”," Saikia added.

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Sarma has lamented that instead of issuing the desired directions, the RGI issued instructions “for issue of rejection slips and winding up of the operation of updation of NRC”. It is obvious from the reported interaction that unlike Hitesh Dev Sarma, the RGI is not convinced about serious anomalies, the Congress leader added.

He further pointed out that Sarma has mentioned that various District Registrar of Citizen Registration (DRCRs) have recommended 10,199 names for either exclusion from or inclusion in the NRC out of which, 4975 names have been recommended for deletion. "These include 1,032 persons who are declared foreigners (DF), doubtful voters (DV), persons with cases pending in Foreigners Tribunals (PFT) and descendants of PFT (PFTD),": he said.

"In case of the remaining 3,763 persons recommended for exclusion, the cause mentioned in the affidavit is “other reasons”, which smacks of obfuscation and creates suspicion," he added.

The impression one gets from the affidavit is that Shri Sarma is the lone crusader for ensuring an error-free NRC. Shri Sarma should refrain from such shallow intervention and ensure speedy initiation of the mandated final claims and objections process pertaining to the NRC.

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