GUWAHATI: Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the number of those excluded from National Register of Citizens (NRC) will plummet below 10 lakh from over 19 lakh once their cases are disposed of by the Foreigners’ Tribunals.
“The figure will surely go down. I guess it will be below 10 lakh after people file appeals in the Foreigners’ Tribunals,” Sarma told a news channel.
He said as long as the Supreme Court is not satisfied with the just-concluded process, it is not the final NRC. The state government may ask for 20 per cent re-verification in the districts bordering Bangladesh. The SC may or may not accept it, the minister said. He slammed groups which claimed that there was 50 lakh Hindu immigrants in Assam.
Sarma was also critical of the NRC authorities for the alleged hurry in publishing the document.“Isn’t the issue (of the Bangladeshi immigrants) lingering on for more than 50 years? I cannot understand as to why they were in such a hurry to publish the NRC,” he said.“Ahead of the publication of the final NRC, such a situation was created where the DC (deputy commissioner or district magistrate) doesn’t trust a minister,” Sarma said.
He expressed unhappiness that the NRC authorities did not take the state government into confidence.
Attacking the NRC Assam coordinator Prateek Hajela, Sarma said, “He wasn’t chosen to head the NRC updation process by following a process of selection. As such, we all had to trust one man. Even the Election Commission is not headed by one man. It is a division bench of judges in the Supreme Court”.
Shah to meet N-E states’ CMs, GUVs on September 8-9
Union Home Minister Amit Shah to meet the chief ministers and governors of North Eastern states in Guwahati on September 8 to review the security situation in wake of the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), sources said on Monday. During the September 8-9 visit, Shah will chair a meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC), to be attended by chief ministers and governors of eight Northeastern states. He will review the progress of various development issues at the NEC meeting. “Shah is also likely to have separate meetings with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and top functionaries of the Assam government and the state BJP leadership,” sources said. This will be Shah’s first visit to Assam after becoming the home minister three months ago. The final NRC was published on Saturday.