'What is this?' 2018 Congress video declaring "NRC is our Baby" leads to big questions

Amid the fierce back and forth between the Opposition and the NDA government over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a video from has resurfaced on social media, from the official Congress handles, where the party not only backs the NRC but also takes ownership of it in no uncertain terms, calling it the "baby of the Congress party”.

The video shows Congress media chief Randeep Surjewala addressing a press conference alongside now-Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot back in August 2018. This comes at a time when the two parties have deployed resources to counter each other on the NRC issue by digging up old videos to target each other.

“The NRC is the baby of the Congress party,” chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. The Congress had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “befooling” people by politicising the exercise. It also alleged that the Centre wanted to deflect public attention from government's "failures", including bank scams.

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NRC started by UPA

Surjewala had in the press conference said the NRC process was initiated by Congress governments in Assam and at the Centre in 2005 to identify the foreigners, who had illegally entered India. This he said was in accordance with the historic Assam Accord of 1985. He informed that the UPA government under PM Manmohan Singh sanctioned Rs 489 crore and proceeded to appoint 25,000 enumerators for the NRC process in 2009. 

It was the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government of Assam, Surjewala said, which completed 80% of the NRC process by May 2016, and the exercise is being monitored by the Supreme Court since August 2014. “The Congress party will ensure that no Indian citizens are deprived of his legitimate right. The Congress stands committed to help and assist every Indian Citizen in this endeavour,” he had said.

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Reactions

Reacting to the video, Atif Rasheed, National Minorities Commission member, took to Twitter to criticise Congress and Rahul Gandhi. "What is this? @RahulGandhi Ji will not say anything on this. Will the Congress do Satyagraha on this statement of @rssurjewala or something else to deceive Muslims with a duplicity policy on TV!"

BJP youth wing leader Devang Dave also took a jibe at Congress over the video. "NRC is our Baby says @INCIndia. Why the uproar now? When you do it, it's correct; when we do it, it's wrong?"

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