Over 2.6 lakh objections filed against NRC inclusion

From only 600 in over three months to over 2.6 lakh in 24-hours —objections against possible inclusion of “illegal migrants” in the NRC in Assam took a dramatic leap on Monday, the last day for filing claims and objections.

The NRC office here said the exact number of objections would further go up as one application contains more than one applicant or the entire family. The number of claims by those left out of the draft NRC also went up to 31.2 lakh and counting was still on. Over 40.07 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants found their names dropped from the draft NRC released on July 30.

The claims and objections period for the NRC began on September 25 but only 600 objections were filed till Sunday.

Sources here told DH that Barpeta, a district in western Assam having sizeable Muslim population reported the maximum number of objections, which was estimated to be over 65,000.

“Most of the objections have been filed by indigenous people, who are worried that illegal migrants from Bangladesh, who entered Assam after March 24, 1971, have made it to the draft NRC by producing fake documents. The objections will be looked into from February 15, when documents submitted by those filing claims will also be verified,” said the source.

Sources said the “mass objection drive” was spearheaded by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which led the six-year-long Assam Agitation or anti-foreigners movement from 1979 to 1985.

The NRC 1951 is being updated only in Assam with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date, to solve the state’s long problem of ‘illegal migration,’ mainly from neighbouring Bangladesh. The cut-off date was agreed in the Assam Accord of 1985, which was signed with the Centre following the Assam Agitation.

This means those submitting acceptable documents to prove that they or their forefathers had lived in Assam before midnight of March 24, 1971, would be included in the updated NRC and offered a national identity card. Those failing to do so would subsequently be declared foreigners for deportation.

The Supreme Court is monitoring the NRC update exercise. A man was attacked on Tuesday in South Assam’s Hailakandi district when he had gone to an NRC Seva Kendra to file an objection against an applicant, whom he suspected to be an illegal migrant.

The worry over possible inclusion of illegal migrants grew after at least 200 applicants were detected to have submitted fake documents in central Assam’s Morigaon district. A report submitted in the Supreme Court by NRC state co-ordinator Prateek Hajela recently also said illegal migrants from Bangladesh had submitted fake documents to include their names in the NRC.

Organisations representing minorities in the state said most of the left outs long to Bengali Hindu and Muslims, many of whom are genuine Indian citizens but are being harassed by the NRC enumerators.