'Very purpose of NRC has failed'

New Delhi: The very purpose of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has failed because of its “improper implementation” and politicisation by the BJP-led government, senior Congress leader and former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said on Sunday.

He said that the national register was meant to identify “foreigners” and was to be implemented across the country, and not just Assam.

“But I can tell you the BJP government cannot implement it across the country,” Gogoi said at an interaction with journalists, organised by the Congress’s Research Department here.

“The very purpose of it failed because of improper implementation by the government,” he said and demanded that the exercise be carried out across the country. The BJP also politicised the issue of NRC, he alleged.

Accusing the BJP of creating confusion intentionally, Mr Gogoi said that the present dispensation did not have a clear vision on the NRC. Around 40 lakh people in Assam have been excluded from the final draft of the NRC, which was published on July 30, raising concern over the future of these people.

Assam, which had witnessed influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, which was first prepared in 1951.

“Even we started pilot projects on NRC in 2010 but after facing huge resentment and opposition, we stopped and discussed modalities of the way forward,” Mr Gogoi said.