GUWAHATI, Feb 1 � Making a strong pitch for subjecting suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to DNA testing for a foolproof updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today said that such a step was extremely critical to safeguarding the interests of the indigenous populace of the State.
In a statement, AASU president Sankar Prasad Ray and general secretary Tapan Gogoi said that the AASU had been the first to raise the demand for DNA tests which was necessitated by the gross anomalies in the voters� list where illegal Bangladeshis had managed to include their names easily. �DNA testing is a scientific method to expose the false claims of nationality often made by the illegal immigrants who invariably resort to the plea of having parental links with persons having their names in the voters� list,� it said.
The AASU leaders said that the DNA tests would be applicable to only the suspected illegal immigrants, and that a correct NRC would be an impossible proposition without conducting the tests. �The State Government and the all-party meet had also agreed to the AASU�s proposal for DNA testing. It is the duty of the State Government to convince the Centre on the urgency of the step,� they said.
The AASU also rejected the State Government�s version that updating of the NRC through DNA testing would take 15-20 years, saying that such baseless utterances would only encourage illegal infiltrators.
GUWAHATI, Feb 1 � Making a strong pitch for subjecting suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to DNA testing for a foolproof updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today said that such a step was extremely critical to safeguarding the interests of the indigenous populace of the State.
In a statement, AASU president Sankar Prasad Ray and general secretary Tapan Gogoi said that the AASU had been the first to raise the demand for DNA tests which was necessitated by the gross anomalies in the voters� list where illegal Bangladeshis had managed to include their names easily. �DNA testing is a scientific method to expose the false claims of nationality often made by the illegal immigrants who invariably resort to the plea of having parental links with persons having their names in the voters� list,� it said.
The AASU leaders said that the DNA tests would be applicable to only the suspected illegal immigrants, and that a correct NRC would be an impossible proposition without conducting the tests. �The State Government and the all-party meet had also agreed to the AASU�s proposal for DNA testing. It is the duty of the State Government to convince the Centre on the urgency of the step,� they said.
The AASU also rejected the State Government�s version that updating of the NRC through DNA testing would take 15-20 years, saying that such baseless utterances would only encourage illegal infiltrators.
