Assam govt slams NRC coordinator for not sharing info

Guwahati: After Supreme Court rejected the plea of the state and central government to re-verify at least 20 per cent of names included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Assam government on Thursday alleged that NRC state coordinator, Prateek Hajela, was misleading the Supreme Court while questioning his motive behind not sharing his reports with the state government which he submitted to the apex court.

Expressing his displeasure over NRC authorities not cooperating and suspecting the possible inclusion of names of illegal migrants in draft NRC, the Assam government on Thursday also released the figures to justify its claims.

The Muslim-majority districts in Assam have recorded a high inclusion of names in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the final draft of which will be published on August 31.

Sharing details of inclusion and exclusion, the state’s parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that the inclusion of names in Dhubri district was 91.74 per cent. Similarly, it was 92.33 per cent in Karimganj district, 91.96 per cent in Hailakandi district, 92.78 per cent in South Salmara district, 86.60 per cent in Barpeta district and 85.88 in Nagaon district.

In contrast, the percentages of inclusion in two tribal-majority districts of Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong were 85.69 and 84.53 respectively. Also, the names of 17.89 applicants were not included in Sonitpur district and 15.59 per cent in Baksa district.

The Muslims are in a majority in Karimganj, Dhubri, Hailakandi, South Salmara, Barpeta and Nagaon districts. Dhubri, South Salmara and Karimganj are the three Assam districts, which share a border with Bangladesh.

Sonitpur and Baksa have recorded high percentages of exclusion. Ironically, Sonitpur is Assam’s cultural capital and Baksa falls under Bodo heartland.

The highest inclusion of names was recorded in Upper Assam’s Majuli district, which is the seat of state’s Vaishnavite culture. Similarly, Charaideo, Jorhat and Sivasagar in Upper Assam have recorded high inclusions. The migrant Muslim population is very less in Upper Assam.

The state government’s remark has come close on the heels of the Supreme Court rejectring the plea of Centre and Assam government to conduct 20 per cent random sample re-verification of documents in the districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 per cent sample re-verification in the other districts.

Several BJP legislators have started expressing doubt over the ongoing process of preparing the NRC which is now in final stage and set to be published on August 31.