By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : With less than a week left for publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), the ruling BJP today expressed scepticism about the way the update work has been undertaken and said that it believes the document will not be error-free.Addressing a press conference here, State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said the party is apprehensive that names of many genuine Indian citizens will be left out of the final NRC while those of many foreigners will find place in the updated register. “We are not at all satisfied with the way work on the update of the NRC has proceeded… Chances are high that the final NRC will have names of many foreigners even as it will exclude many genuine Indian citizens… That is our belief based on the feedback we have received. Anyway, you all will find out the truth after August 31,” Dass said. He said that names of family members of some Assam Agitation martyrs and of those who took part in the freedom movement as well as the names of people who served in the Indian Army were found missing during publication of the draft NRC, or, in some cases, such persons were served notices later, while there were instances where suspected foreigners were found to be engaged in the NRC update process. “So how can we say that we are satisfied with the way things have gone so far?” said the BJP leader. He added, “Many officials engaged in the NRC update process themselves told us that if more time is given it will be possible to bring out an error-free final register.

The Central and the State governments even filed affidavits before the Supreme Court seeking reverification of 20 per cent of the applicants. But NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela opposed it.” Dass said that lots of doubts have arisen regarding the style of functioning of Hajela and expressed apprehension that the NRC State Coordinator may have been influenced by “one or two organisations”. He said the apex court had, in 2017 itself, directed the State government not to interfere with the NRC process. “Now one or two organizations are demanding that the State government must ensure an error-free NRC. How can the State government do that when it has no authority to interfere in the process? Those same organizations were mum when the Supreme Court had given its directive in 2017,” said the State BJP chief. Dass said the BJP is of the view that if any genuine Indian citizen is left out of the NRC then Parliament and the Assam Legislative Assembly should, in future, frame new laws to ensure justice to such people.

The BJP has also demanded that after the publication of the final NRC, the government should undertake counter-verification of documents submitted by suspected foreigners. Dass said that many examples have come to light of some officials accepting false or counterfeit documents to include names of suspected foreigners in the NRC. Calling upon the people of the State to maintain calm and ensure peace and amity post-August 31, Dass said that the ruling party has also directed all its cadres “to stand beside genuine Indian citizens who may need legal or some other assistance”. “We also urge all genuine Indian citizens who might find their names excluded from the final NRC not to panic.

They should have faith in the law and they should approach the Foreigners Tribunals and the courts,” Dass said.Das alleged that there are many reports of Bangladeshi nationals being appointed as workers in the NRC centre. “Also, during the hearing, many officers tried to frame Indian citizens as ‘foreigners’ but no counter verification was done”, he said. Explaining the rationale behind the high cost incurred in the publication of the NRC, Dass stated that although there have been allegations of spending Rs 1,200 crore in the exercise of NRC, for the Government, the Indian Nationals are more important than that Rs 1,200 crore. “We cannot afford to exclude a single genuine citizen from the NR”, he said. Das also mentioned that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also provided many suggestions during the exercise of NRC. However, on July 13, 2017, the Supreme Court had asked him not to intervene in the NRC process. The BJP state president also alleged that the NRC State Coordinator, Prateek Hajela is carrying out the entire exercise of the NRC under the influence of local bodies. He also alleged that although the BJP party has suggested many ideas, none of these were accepted.

“Now the local bodies that were supporting Prateek Hajela has also raised demand of a free and fair NRC. 55 thousands of supporting workers were provided by the government to carry out the entire exercise, but anomalies were reported. We are not happy with the processing of the NRC and we have the right to demand free and fair NRC. If any anomalies are reported, we are prepared to carry it to the party high command”, he said. He further added that there were instances of submission of birth certificate which during cross checking did not match the issue date. Even Army jawans have been excluded, he alleged. “We also urge the people to approach the Foreigner’ Tribunal court whose names are being excluded for legal support, thus, they should not panic. Legal Aid Societies are available which are directed to provide legal aid to those people”, he added. Meanwhile, another BJP leader, MLA Shiladitya Dev has alleged that Bangladeshi nationals are deliberately being featured in the NRC