GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has claimed that a “considerable number” of people among the 19, 06,657 excluded from the final National Register of Citizens were Indian citizens and that the government should activate the 700 “non-functional” foreigners tribunals (FTs) in the state to dispose of the cases of these persons at the earliest.
APCC said the information on the composition of the excluded people was based on the feedback given by its observers across all the districts of Assam.
“We had sent two observers to each district and based on their reports, we can say that a considerable number of people among those excluded in the final NRC are Indian citizens comprising Hindu-Bengalis, Gorkhas, Hindi-speaking people as well as indigenous and tea tribes Currently, only 300 foreigners tribunals are operational and therefore the remaining 700 need to be made functional to clear their cases promptly,” APCC president, Ripun Bora said here on Sunday.
“The All India Congress Committee president has in this regard directed us to ensure that no Indian citizen is excluded from NRC. From our end, we will ensure all legal support for these people across districts,” Bora said.
Welcoming the extension of the period of appeals in the foreigners tribunals to 120 days, the APCC chief however said that the NRC authorities should clarify from which date would this period be effective from.
Taking a dig at the ruling party, the APCC chief said that the rank and file of the BJP was confused with the NRC with “different leaders making conflicting opinions” on it.
The APCC president further condemned state minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s alleged statement that people following the Hindu faith must be included in the NRC, saying that the minister has disregarded the Supreme Court, which monitored the NRC update process, and the Constitution.
“We call upon the chief minister to take action against the minister and that for making such a communal statement he should resign from his post,” Bora said.
