GUWAHATI: It is the "local" sentiment that made some people to not apply for inclusion of their names in National Register of Citizens (NRC) the "complete draft" of which was published by the Assam government on Monday. BJP's Morigaon MLA, Rama Kanta Dewri, is one of them.
He categorically said that the tribals and the sons of the soil should have been exempted from the process. "My children had applied for it. I didn't check if my name was there in NRC. And why should an MLA apply?" he argued. He said the names of locals should have been automatically included. "Why should people belonging to indigenous communities apply? Are we not the sons of the soil? Our tribal people had told me that there was no reason for them to apply for inclusion of their names in the list. We are not foreigners. So, why should we have to prove we are locals?" he asked.
He claimed that the names of some people with suspected nationality, whose cases were being heard by the Foreigners' Tribunals, were included. "If that is the case, why were the names of so many locals not included in NRC? I strongly feel that we could have resolved the issue of illegal immigrants if NRC was updated based on 1951 as the cut-off year and not March 24, 1971," he said.
Amardeep Gogoi, a businessman from Guwahati, also did not apply. He said his sister had tried to file for it online but failed to do so due to some reason. "I was hurt when I learnt that the process requires everyone, including the indigenous communities, to give proofs that they are Indians. I was also sad to see Assamese people standing in long queues to submit documents to NRC authorities. Also, there was an ambiguity as regards the cases of women from other states who migrated to Assam following marriage. My mother is from Meghalaya and we could not understand what kinds of documents needed to be furnished," Gogoi said. Asked about the fate of those who had not applied, Registrar General of India, Sailesh, told reporters in Guwahati recently, "We will deal with their cases at a later stage".