NEW DELHI: NRC as such is not bad thing but the idea behind it is. The NRC final draft List that too prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India released in Assam has created many doubts about the intention of the power that be at the helm.
The exclusion of more than 40 lakh people, mostly Muslims, from the NRC draft strengthens the Opposition’s allegation that the ruling BJP is doing vote-bank politics and wants to create the atmosphere of fear. Strangely enough, the people who could not make to the final Draft List are not all commoners or street men but includes prominent and known citizens of India. The excluded people list also includes, besides others, even the family members of former President of India Mr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
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While the repeated assurance from Union Minister of Home Rajnath Singh that there would be no discrimination or unnecessary harassment in the entire updation process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and that it was being carried out in a fair and transparent manner is welcome and wise declaration, but on the other hand the chief of his party Mr Amit Shah’s statement that those excluded from the NRC are ‘intruders’ amounts to double standard of the ruling party. Who should be believed?
On Thursday, a BJP MP Nishikant Dubey demanded in the Lok Sabha that National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented across the country creating furore in the House. He also said that the Muslim population has been increasing in the North-East and elsewhere as census could not be conducted in these areas.
Speaking during the Zero Hour, Dubey said: “In 1905, Bengal was partitioned. Bihar was a part of West Bengal at that time. After division from Bihar, Jharkhand was formed and the whole demography was changed. After the division in 1905, migration from East Bengal to West Bengal happened regularly,” said the Godda MP, reports IANS.
Nishikant Dubey demanded implementation of NRC across the country and special in West Bengal.
Earlier, Manoj Tiwari, the Delhi BJP chief on Wednesday also asked the centre to start work on building a citizenship register for the national capital to identify and expel “foreign infiltrators”.
In a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Delhi BJP chief claimed that thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshis were living illegally in Delhi, many of them with documents such as Aadhaar identity numbers and ration cards.
Manoj Tiwari demanded “action against such foreign infiltrators as is being done in some states of the country”, a reference to National Register of Citizens in Assam.
Assam’s citizens’ list, aimed at identifying illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, has triggered a massive political controversy with opposition parties including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress accusing the BJP of trying to drive out people for political reasons.
IANS