Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday asked officials to sensitise the people to the legal options available to those who would be left out of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be published on August 31.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, pressed for a sustained campaign at a meeting with Home Department officials and the Deputy Commissioners and the Superintendents of Police of the 33 districts. The meeting reviewed the law and order and discussed measures to deal with any crisis after the publication of the list.
Mr. Sonowal asked the officials to maintain close relations with the influential people and opinion-makers so as to remove any “misunderstanding” about the NRC process. “Help MLAs, zilla parishad and panchayat members and NGOs make all sections aware of the real implications of the process and the legal ways available to those excluded from the list,” he said.
Pointing to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Mr. Sonowal said those excluded from the list would not be treated as foreigners, and Foreigners’ Tribunals alone could declare a person foreigner after a due process.
“Anti-indigenous”
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has criticised the Central and Assam governments for deciding to provide legal help to those who would be excluded from the NRC. “The decision is misleading, unnecessary and a conspiracy against the indigenous people of Assam,” AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath said in a statement. “We fail to understand the motive behind this decision to help people who couldn’t produce documents to establish their citizenship during the six years of the exercise that had already gave them several opportunities. Foreigners will be enthused by this decision, and the one to extend the time to 120 days for filing appeals,” he said.
