'Final' NRC today: Assam minister talks of new 'foreigner filter'
GUWAHATI: As Assam waited with bated breath for the publication of its "final" National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Saturday, the BJP-led state government on Friday portrayed the exercise of updating the citizenship rolls as a job half done and said it had started working on an additional mechanism to "identify and expel foreigners".
"There's no point discussing who is in and who is out tomorrow. The people who are excluded will neither be Indians nor foreigners (on the basis of the list). Only tribunals can say that. The final numbers will be provided by the tribunals, and that is something we have to focus on," finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also BJP's Northeast minder and a member of its national executive, said.
He said BJP stopped treating the NRC as "a national document" the day it was revealed that only 6% of the population of South Salmara and Dhubri districts, both bordering Bangladesh and Muslim-dominated, had been excluded from the two draft NRCs.
Sarma contrasted this with "a much higher 16% rate of exclusion" in tribal-dominated Karbi Anglong, suggesting it was abnormal. This data has already fuelled demands by organisations aligned with the Sangh Parivar for a re-verification before the final rolls are published. "Tomorrow, for us, is just the end of a phase. We, Dispur and Delhi, have started thinking of an alternative device to expel illegal foreigners," he said.
CM Sarbananda Sonowal's was the softer voice, urging people to behave as "a mature society" and not treat those whose names are not in the rolls as foreigners illegally staying in Assam until the tribunals decide so.
The period for filing appeals before the foreigners' tribunals has been extended from 60 to 120 days. "As long as an appellant's plea remains sub judice, he or she cannot be treated as a foreigner. The process of updating the National Register of Citizens on the instructions of the Supreme Court and under the supervision of the registrar general of India is the outcome of the untiring efforts of thousands of people," the chief minister said.
In Delhi, MEA sources said 200 more foreigners' tribunals would be set up by Monday in preparation for a rush of appeals filed by people excluded from the NRC.
There are currently 100 tribunals and the Union home ministry's target is to have 500 of them in all. The tentative deadline for completion of the appeals process is three years, the sources said.
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"There's no point discussing who is in and who is out tomorrow. The people who are excluded will neither be Indians nor foreigners (on the basis of the list). Only tribunals can say that. The final numbers will be provided by the tribunals, and that is something we have to focus on," finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also BJP's Northeast minder and a member of its national executive, said.
He said BJP stopped treating the NRC as "a national document" the day it was revealed that only 6% of the population of South Salmara and Dhubri districts, both bordering Bangladesh and Muslim-dominated, had been excluded from the two draft NRCs.
Sarma contrasted this with "a much higher 16% rate of exclusion" in tribal-dominated Karbi Anglong, suggesting it was abnormal. This data has already fuelled demands by organisations aligned with the Sangh Parivar for a re-verification before the final rolls are published. "Tomorrow, for us, is just the end of a phase. We, Dispur and Delhi, have started thinking of an alternative device to expel illegal foreigners," he said.
CM Sarbananda Sonowal's was the softer voice, urging people to behave as "a mature society" and not treat those whose names are not in the rolls as foreigners illegally staying in Assam until the tribunals decide so.
The period for filing appeals before the foreigners' tribunals has been extended from 60 to 120 days. "As long as an appellant's plea remains sub judice, he or she cannot be treated as a foreigner. The process of updating the National Register of Citizens on the instructions of the Supreme Court and under the supervision of the registrar general of India is the outcome of the untiring efforts of thousands of people," the chief minister said.
In Delhi, MEA sources said 200 more foreigners' tribunals would be set up by Monday in preparation for a rush of appeals filed by people excluded from the NRC.
There are currently 100 tribunals and the Union home ministry's target is to have 500 of them in all. The tentative deadline for completion of the appeals process is three years, the sources said.
[1][2][3]
References
- ^ National Register of Citizens (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ NRC (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ foreigners' tribunals (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2UjK3q5
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