GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday reassured those genuine Indian citizens living in Assam, whose name do not figure in the final draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be published on July 30 next, would get sufficient opportunity to get their names enlisted before the final NRC is published by the end of this year.
Addressing a women conclave at in Mangaldaoi on Saturday, Sonowal allaying apprehensions prevailing over the publication of the final draft of the NRC said, “ If any genuine India citizen’s name is left out of the draft NRC they should not be worried as the they can enroll their names through the well laid out procedures prescribed by the Supreme Court of India which has monitored the entire process of updating the NRC.”
He also said that a section of unscrupulous people are trying to spread disharmony in the society in the name of caste, religion and called upon the people not to pay any heed to such evil design as the government is committed to control such miss-information with iron hands. He also made it clear that any evil design to create disability using social-media would also invite legal actions.
The Registrar General of India (RGI) has been carrying out the exercise to update the names of Indian citizens living in Assam from the time of first enlisting done in 1951. The updating of the NRC of 1951 has been done in Assam with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date.
Total 3.29 crore people living in Assam have applied for enlisting of their names in the updated NRC. The first part of the draft NRC which was published on December 31, 2017 enlisted names of 1.9 crore Indian citizens living in the state. The next part of the draft will be published on July 30.
Meanwhile, in the run up to publication of the final draft NRC, about 30,000 central armed paramilitary force personnel have been deployed all over the state even as Assam Police have carried out massive awareness campaign in coordination with district administrations regarding the entire process of the NRC updating so as to allay fears among genuine Indian citizens belonging to all castes, creed and religion. The social media has been under strict surveillance of Assam Police’s cyber cell to prevent rumour mongering at this crucial juncture.
The NRC state coordinator and the state chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal have made it amply clear that the NRC is not being updated on the basis on any caste, creed and religion as has been propagated by certain vested quarters to derail the first of a kind process in the entire country.