Final NRC must be verified: All Assam Students' Union

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The AASU (All Assam Students' Union) has demanded that all entries in the final NRC (National Register of Citizens) must be verified. The students' body, however, clarified that the verification exercise can leave aside the original inhabitants (OI) of the State. According to rule, OIs get direct entries into the NRC.

Talking to The Sentinel, AASU president Dipanko Kumar Nath added, "But, the NRC authority must doubly check as to whether there are any illegal entries in the name of OI."

Nath pointed out, "We raised our doubts on the NRC, just after it was published on August 31, 2019. While names of some ineligible persons were included in the NRC, those of some indigenous people remained excluded. So, we moved the Supreme Court for re-examination of the final NRC. We want an error-free NRC."

The student leader added, "The recent affidavit filed by the NRC State Coordinator in the High Court has proved AASU's stand on the issue. The NRC authorities must further make public other errors, if any, in the final NRC."

The AASU leader also said, "The NRC must have names of only the Indian citizens. Names of all other illegal persons – irrespective of their religions – must be deleted from the NRC. The NRC authority must be secular."

Mentionably, in October this year, the Gauhati High Court directed the State Coordinator of NRC to submit an affidavit explaining how the names of some ineligible people crept into the final updated NRC.

In response, the NRC State Coordinator submitted in its affidavit that the names of more than 4,700 'Declared Foreigners', D (doubtful) voters, individuals whose citizenship issues are pending in the Foreigners' Tribunals and their decedents were included in the final updated NRC published in 2019. The NRC authority also stated that this discrepancy was detected after reverification of the backgrounds of more than 10,000 individuals, who were enrolled in the final NRC.

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