GUWAHATI: A 12-hour Assam bandh, called by Rashtriya Bajrang Dal on Friday seeking the fulfillment of its various demands pertaining to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), passed off peacefully.
The bandh paralysed normal life at various places. It, however, had no impact in Guwahati.
In Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh, the police detained several members of the bandh organisers for allegedly trying to thwart the screening of an Assamese movie released on Friday.
The Assam unit of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal claimed that the updated NRC was full of errors and discrepancies. It alleged that an attempt was made by NRC authorities to include the names of the Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants in the citizenship document.
“Former Assam Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, former Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, former Assam Governor Lt Gen (retired) SK Sinha and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had earlier said Assam has 50 lakh, Bangladeshi immigrants. (NRC state coordinator) Prateek Hajela tried to make lakhs of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants Indians through the updation of the NRC,” the organisation alleged.
It demanded the re-updation of the NRC based on the year 1951 as the cut-off date, granting of citizenship to the Hindu refugees and their rehabilitation in various states and inclusion of the names of indigenous people, who were excluded, in the NRC.
In the second phase, the organisation will stage a “fast-unto-death” stir. It warned that it would be compelled to intensify its agitation if the anomalies were not rectified.
Over 19 lakh people were left out of the NRC, the final list of which was published on Saturday.