Will not allow govt to cancel published NRC for Assam: APCC

The Congress on Sunday condemned Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that the National Register of Citizens will be carried out across the country and asserted that it will not allow the government to cancel the published NRC for Assam.

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At a meeting of the working committee of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), a resolution was adopted condemning the statement by Shah in Parliament that NRC would be carried out across the country, including Assam. A press release from the Congress asserted that the party will not allow the government to reject the NRC, which was updated recently, and vowed to oppose any move to restart the process in any form in the state.

It termed Shah's move to make a country-wide NRC "unconstitutional" as the process was carried out in Assam under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court. "To make the base year as 1951 in Assam, it will require Constitutional amendment. So his statement is not realistic," the APCC said, adding it supports the cut-off date of March 24, 1971 as per the Assam Accord.

The Congress claimed that most of the over 19 lakh people, who were excluded from the final NRC, are genuine Indian citizens and demanded the government to start the appeal process for them immediately.

"The government should also dispose of the cases of all the people in detention camps as they unnecessarily suffering. The pending cases of D-voters (doubtful voters) should also be cleared immediately," the statement said. The final NRC was published on August 31 this year by excluding 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.

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