From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam on Monday fired a broadside on the state Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Prateek Hajela for his ‘unilateral’ submission before the Supreme Court of striking out five out of 15 documents listed for the inclusion of names in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) through the process of claims and objections.
“We would like to ask Prateek Hajela who gave him the authority to make such a submission, which negates the decisions taken under the Assam Accord. He did not consult any of the groups which are also parties in the NRC case before the Supreme Case,” state BJP president Ranjeet Dass told the media here.
“He did not even consult the state government, as Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal himself confirmed to me when I met him over the issue,” he added.
As revealed by Supreme Court in its last hearing regarding the NRC on September 5, Hajela has suggested for striking out five documents, out of a list of 15 documents, that an applicant whose name did not appear in the final draft can re-submit his/her name for inclusion in the updated NRC.
These five documents are the 1951 NRC, electoral roll of 1971, citizenship certificate, refugee certificate and ration card.
Pointing to the hue and cry over the issue, Dass said, “If these documents were allowed in the stage of application, how can these be disallowed now? It is like changing the rules of the game 15 minutes ahead of completion time.”
He further said the documents proposed before Supreme Court to be disallowed, were all issued by either the Centre or the state government and were in keeping with the provision of deadline of midnight of March 21, 1971, for detection of illegal foreigners in Assam, as per the Assam Accord.
Dass said the state BJP has already brought the matter to the notice of its central leadership, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and national president Amit Shah, and demanded before them that the central and the state governments should submit affidavits before the Supreme Court against Hajela’s proposal, which has been accepted by the apex court.
“If Hajela had found anomalies or difficulties in the list of documents, he should have pointed earlier, not when the process of updating the NRC is in the final stages now,” he added.
Dass reiterated that the BJP would fight to ensure that name of no genuine Indian citizen was left out and no illegal settler found way into the updated NRC.