NRC hearings in Assam
GUWAHATI: All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) on Thursday protested the alleged atrocities on people from the minority communities in the name of NRC (National Register of Citizens)-related hearings.
Speaking to the media at Goroimari in Kamrup district where a sit-in demonstration was held, AAMSU president, Rejaul Karim Sarkar said that lakhs of people from minority-inhabited areas have been notified to travel at least 500 km to appear in NRC-related hearings in just a matter of some hours when the standard operating procedure laid down by the Supreme Court was 15 days.
Several thousands from south Kamrup itself have been asked to appear in different places of Upper Assam in short notice between August 5 and 7, 2019. Worse still, there has been a spate of road mishaps as well with some casualties reported and many injured in the process.
“Given the state of things, we smell a conspiracy by the state government and NRC authorities and allege that the harassment being meted out to people from the minority-inhabited areas is just a ploy to exclude names of lakhs of people from the register. We vehemently oppose such tactics which are against the directives of the Supreme Court,” Sarkar said.
The AAMSU leader further demanded compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of those killed in the mishaps and Rs 5lakh to those injured besides requisite medical treatment.
“Moreover, several persons have been asked to appear in the hearings for a second time and that too in different areas, violating the Supreme Court orders. We have no issues if the hearings are held in one’s own area. But the manner in which minorities are being harassed is unfortunate. We will launch a series of agitation across the state if the NRC authorities continue to violate Supreme Court’s directions and will also intimate the apex court in this regard,” he said.
Sarkar reiterated that AAMSU has always been in favour of an error-free NRC where the names of only legal citizens of the country would figure once it comes out on the scheduled date of August 31, 2019.
