Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed the security scenario in Assam besides preparation to deal with any possible law and order situation which may arise after the publication of the final National Register of Citizens on July 31.
Attended by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and top officials of the Union Home Ministry and the State government, the meeting presided by Mr. Singh took stock of the prevailing situation in Assam which last week had witnessed a blast, suspected to be carried out by the banned insurgent group ULFA, a Ministry official said.
NRC updating process
“A detailed review on the present security scenario of Assam has taken place. We have also discussed about the possible situation which may arise after the publication of the final NRC,” Mr. Sonowal said after the hour-long meeting.
He said that the State government is extending all assistance for the NRC updating process and is committed to provide security to all citizens. “No genuine Indian should be worried about the outcome of the final NRC,” he said.
When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The draft NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications.
Some 30 lakh of the 40.7 lakh people, left out of the draft of NRC, filed for inclusion of their names in the document. Around 600 objections were submitted by individuals who suspected the citizenship of others who made it to the list.
The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the process, has made it clear that the final NRC has to be published on July 31, 2019.
Verification on
Of the 40.7 lakh people whose names did not figure in the draft NRC, 37.59 lakh names were rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 were on hold. However, they were given an opportunity to prove their Indian citizenship with 1971 as the cut-off year. The verification process is being carried out for these people who had submitted documents afresh.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the NRC exercise was carried out with a “political motive” to divide people and had warned that it would lead to “bloodbath and civil war” in the country.
