Published 16:34 IST, September 1st 2019
NRC: JDU VP Prashant Kishor calls exclusion of 19 lakhs 'botched up'
After the NRC final list was out in Assam, JDU Vice president Prashant Kishor said that it is a botched up NRC and criticised the BJP govt calling it 'rhetoric'
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Though 19 lakh exclusion from the final list of Assam's NRC list is a major decrease from 40 lakh excluded in the second draft published on July 2018, JDU Vice President Prashant Kishor has called it 'a botched up NRC'. The National Registry of Citizens (NRC) final list was out on Saturday in which 3,11,21,004 Assam residents were included and 19,06,657 Assam residents did not find their name. The exclusion included the number of people who did not submit their papers to the NRC authorities. Additionally the state coordinator also stated that those not satisfied with the outcome can file an appeal before Foreigners Tribunals.
Taking to Twitter on Sunday, JDU Vice President Kishor said that due to 'political posturing' and 'rhetoric', people of Assam are paying the price of such NRC list. He said that it is because of rhetoric that NRC is posed as a solution for issues of related to National Security. He said that instead of focussing on strategic and systematic challenges, govt is posing NRC as answer to national security problems. He attacked the government for making people foreigner in their own country.
A botched up NRC leaves lakhs of people as foreigners in their own country!
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) September 1, 2019
Such is the price people pay when political posturing & rhetoric is misunderstood as solution for complex issues related to national security without paying attention to strategic & systemic challenges.
JDU spokesperson opposes NRC
JDU spokesperson also opposed the exclusion of 19 lakh people. Pavan Verma, JD(U) General Secretary and National pokesperson told, "The travesty of justice of great magnitude is happening in Assam over the NRC. Without questioning the motivation of exercise, the manner in which it was done has led to a great deal of injustice, confusion and neglect of human rights. Over 19 lakh have been excluded. What are you going to do with them? Will you put them in the detention centre?" Verma asked.
What is the NRC?
The NRC was first prepared in 1951 under the purview of the Census Act, 1948. An updation process was started in 2013 and ended with the receipt of forms by the NRC authorities on 31 August 2015. The process aimed at separating genuine Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in Assam. As per NRC terms, a resident has to prove that they or their ancestors entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971. Anyone failing to do so will be declared a foreigner.
According to the NRC press release, 3,30,27,661 Assam residents have had to prove their Indian citizenship. Previously in December 2017, the first draft was published in which 140 lakh people were included. Further, in July 2018, the second draft was published where more than 40 lakh people were excluded. Apart from these drafts, an additional exclusion list was published on June 26, 2019, where names of 1,02,463 people were published. These persons were earlier included in the draft.
15:52 IST, September 1st 2019