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Final Assam NRC a fiasco

Mamata hits out at Centre; local BJP leaders unhappy, say many with 'forged certificates' got included

Agencies
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dubbed the updated final NRC as a "fiasco" and said it has exposed all those who are trying to gain "political mileage” from the exercise.
Mamata has also expressed concern over a large number of Bengalis being “excluded" from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list, which was released on Saturday.
"The NRC fiasco has exposed all those who tried to take political mileage out of it. They have a lot to answer to the nation," she wrote on Twitter late Saturday.
Over 19 lakh applicants failed to make it to the final NRC list, staring at an uncertain future.
"My heart goes out to all those, especially the large number of Bengali speaking brothers and sisters, who are made to suffer because of this botched-up process," Mamata said.
Yesterday, the Indian External Affairs Ministry asserted that updating of the NRC in Assam was a statutory,
transparent, legal process mandated by the Supreme Court, a process which is “non-discriminatory" and "leaves no room for bias and injustice”, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
In a long statement, ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual resident in Assam.
He also made it clear that those excluded from the NRC would continue to get the rights or entitlements they have enjoyed so far.
"For those who are not in the final list will not be detained and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they have exhausted all the remedies available under the law. It does not make the excluded person 'Stateless'.
"It also does not make him or her a "Foreigner" within the legal meaning of the term. They will not be deprived of any rights or entitlements which they have enjoyed before," the statement read.
"NRC is a fair process based on scientific methods. Inclusion in the NRC is a unique process, as it is based on "application" rather than "house-to-house enumeration".
It means that any person in Assam could have sought to be included in the list on the basis of having documentation to prove lineage from an entitled person, i.e.
a person who was a resident of Assam as on March 24, 1971," it noted.
Meanwhile, local BJP leaders expressed unhappiness over the final NRC, and claimed that many Bengali-speaking Hindus, a key vote bank for the party, were left off the list.
"We do not trust this NRC. We are very unhappy," Ranjeet Kumar Dass, BJP president in Assam told the Press Trust of India late Saturday.
"Many people with forged certificates were included," Dass said, while 200,000 "genuine Indians" were left out.
Those left off have 120 days to appeal at special Foreigners Tribunals.
"If we see that FTs are delivering adverse judgements on the appeals by genuine Indian citizens... we will bring in legislation and make an act to protect them," Dass added.
In an exclusive interview to Indian news outlet News 18, Assam Finance Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary Himanta Biswa Sarma said the updating process was, after all, not a futile exercise.
"This has been a mixed bag for us. People who came in post-19 71 as refugees will face problems... We sympathise with them, but there are many who have manipulated the NRC process and we will
look into it," he said.
"We have managed to trace some illegal immigrants and we are looking to refine the search and the process will go on till every indigenous people of Assam will find their place... We have traced 14-15 lakh foreigners... This has been proved..."
"We will approach Bangladesh and ask them to take their people back, but during that time we will not allow them to vote and give them certain amenities," he added.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a leader of the main opposition Congress, said his party would support those who were wrongly excluded, including providing them with legal aid.
Assam has long seen large influxes from elsewhere, including under British colonial rule and around Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence when millions fled into India.
Linder the NRC, only those who could demonstrate they or their forebears were in India before 1971 could be included in the list.
Assam villagers told AFP about family members who were excluded even though they had documents similar to that of their relatives.
"Our children's names are in the list but my wife's name is missing. She submitted
all the documents and records... Why?," asked resident Jaynal Abudin.
Those left out, many of whom are poor and illiterate, have to navigate a long and expensive legal process that could include bringing their cases to the courts if they are rejected by a foreigner tribunal.
The NRC, which comes in the wake of New Delhi revoking the autonomy of Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, has reinforced fears among India's 170 million Muslim minority that they are being singled out by the central government.
The BJP has previously said it wants the NRC to be replicated nationwide.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Saturday called for the list to be applied in the capital, saying it was needed to identify illegal immigrants.
A total of 3,30,27,661 people in Assam had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded, a statement from the NRC State Coordinator's office said.
Those who have been excluded from the NRC have 120 days to appeal against it at Foreigners Tribunals. If not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunals, they will have the option to move the High Court and the Supreme Court for redress.