GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss situation that may arise in the state once the draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is published in the state by end of December as per the directive of the Supreme Court, an official source informed here.
The NRC updating process was being carried out in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Once the NRC is updated till March 25, 1971, it would become easier to detect illegal migrants as per the clauses of Assam Accord that holds March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for the purpose.
There has been an undercurrent of tension in certain minorities-dominated areas in the state after the state coordinator for NRC updating process Protik Hazela submitted before the Supreme Court recently that about 17 lakh people out of the total 47 lakhs who had submitted documents procured from panchayats with their application for enrolment in the NRC were suspected to be not genuine citizens in Assam. He also submitted that there was possibility of escalation tension in the state after NRC draft was published.
However, the ruling BJP in the state maintains that those suspect citizens would be given a chance to submit genuine documents other than those procured from respective panchayats.
The chief minister Sonowal has also reiterated that genuine Indian citizens do not need to worry about being excluded from NRC and the state government is committed to prepare a flawless draft NRC.
The issue of Nagalim as demanded by Naga rebel groups NSCN-IM also came up for discussion in the meeting with Rajnath Singh who assured Sonowal that territorial integrity of Assam would not be compromised at any cost and the central government was committed to maintain peace and harmony in the Northeast region.
It was also decided at the meeting that the international Indo-Bangla border at Karimganj-Cachar and Mankachar-South Salmara sectors of the state would be sealed at an early date to check illegal migration across the border.