Guwahati: Terming the recently released ‘White Paper’ on illegal immigrants in Assam as a “white lie” by the state government, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Monday demanded that work on updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) be completed before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“The White Paper released by the state government is a white lie and a lot of facts and figures regarding illegal immigrants in Assam are not mentioned in it,” AASU Adviser Sammujjal Bhattacharjya told reporters here. Releasing a document on the delay in implementation of the 1985 Assam Accord, he said “the then Union Minister for State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal has said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on July 14, 2004 that 50 lakh illegal immigrants are present in Assam. Such an important statement did not find any mention in the White Paper.”
Besides, various judgements of Supreme Court and High Court on the issue had also not been mentioned in the Paper, he said.
AASU urged the government to complete NRC update before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2014.
Criticising the recent statement of the chief minister that the issue of foreigners is not a major issue, he said, “every Indian citizen residing in the state would say that deporting illegal immigrants should be the top most agenda. The chief minister is diverting the issue to gain political mileage.”
AASU also announced an intensification of its ongoing anti-immigrant agitation and said it had joined hands with 26 non-political outfits on the issue. (PTI)
