Guwahati: Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday alleged that the entire exercise of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state will be wasted if the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre brings in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities of select neighbouring countries.
Addressing a press conference here, Gogoi said, “The updated NRC is viewed as a means to resolve the illegal foreigners’ problem of Assam. It is being updated with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date, as per the Assam Accord, 1985, and the Supreme Court is directly monitoring it.”
“If the CAB becomes a law, the cut-off date for illegal foreigners of some religions will be pushed. The entire exercise of updating the NRC for Assam will be wasted. All the time, manpower and resources will be wasted and the foreigners’ issue not resolved,” he added.
He said, this uncertainty over the NRC cast by the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has led the people to ‘not take the NRC seriously anymore’, pointing to the fact that only one lakh people have so far placed their claims and objections before the NRC authorities though names of over 40 lakh applicants were not included in the final draft NRC that was published on July 30 last.
The veteran Congress leader urged the people of Assam to unite against the CAB, shedding their differences of political ideology and other dissimilarities to stand against any move of the Central government to pass the Bill in the Parliament.
He took a dig at Asom Gana Parisahd (AGP) for continuing to be part of the BJP-led coalition government in the state and said the regional party, which is a direct offshoot of the Assam Accord, should have exited the government as soon as the Bill was introduced in the Parliament.
The former three-time CM also hit out at the current state government, terming it a ‘spineless and weak’ for allegedly failing to present before the Central government the resistance of the people of Assam against the Bill.
“The state government has betrayed the people and they will get a befitting reply from the masses,” Gogoi added. (UNI)
