GUWAHATI: Anti-influx forum, Prabajan Virodhi Manch has accused the Assam government of “disowning all responsibility” and “making false assertions” in regard to re-verification of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In a statement issued here on Sunday, Manch convener and senior advocate, Upamanyu Hazarika alleged that neither the chief minister nor his government have any interest in NRC re-verification.
“Otherwise, the government would not deliberately obstruct the process of re-verification by making false assertions and pushing the responsibility on to the Supreme Court,” he alleged.
“The chief minister and the state government have been stating that the issue of NRC re-verification is pending with the Supreme Court and the government is therefore awaiting the apex court’s decision, thereby disowning all responsibility in this regard,” Hazarika said.
The legal and factual positions, the Manch convener alleged, have been completely misstated by the chief minister and his government.
The chief minister in his speech before the state BJP executive and response to a question in the Assembly on August 31, 2020, has said that the issue of NRC re-verification was pending in Supreme Court and an affidavit from the government had been filed in July 2019.
“The falsity of this assertion is evident not only from the order of the Supreme Court in July last year but also communication from the Union home ministry on December 2, 2019, which has clearly recorded that the apex court has dismissed the plea for re-verification,” he said.
Hazarika further claimed that NRC, in its present form, will reduce indigenous people of the state to a minority. “As against the UPA government’s assessment of 50 lakh infiltrators in 2004, the NDA government’s assessment of 80 lakh infiltrators in 2016, the present NRC has excluded only 19 lakh, including a large number of foreigners,” he pointed.
“But the present government which came to power on the promise of protecting indigenous identity has willingly permitted a large number of foreigners to become citizens,” he said.