NEW DELHI, Sept 6 � Calling for scrapping of the �D� category from the electoral rolls, a national convention has called for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) only after resolution of the vexed problem taking 1971 as the base year instead of 1951.
A national convention organised by Citizens Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC) at the Constitution Club here saw speaker after speaker blast the government for ignoring the issue of �D� category. The Congress Party and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in general and a number of former governors of the State, in particular, besides All Assam Students� Union (AASU) came under attack of the speakers. The meeting incidentally was attended by several State Congress MPs, MLAs and ex-MLAs.
The organisers lined up a number of leaders of various political parties, minority community including former union minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-hind, Arshad Madani, Syed Sahabuddin, MP Basudev Acharya, Abani Roy among others.
A seven-point resolution passed at the end of the daylong meeting said that the new set of rules under Citizenship Amendment Rules 2009 was discriminatory and violation of the Supreme Court verdict and instead Citizenship Amendment Rule 2003 be made applicable in Assam like any other State. The base year of NRC be fixed as 1971 instead of 1951 according to the Citizenship Amendment Act enacted to give due weightage to the Assam Accord.
The convention also wanted the government not to confine the discussion on foreigner issue to one or two groups and instead involve other groups and organisations to get all shades of opinion. It also called on the government to release those in detention camps to enable them to fight their cases. It also advocated setting up block level screening committees.
Addressing the meeting Maulana Arshad Madani recalled the long association of his organisation with Assam and disclosed how Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind was instrumental in having the IM (DT) Act enacted to �protect� the minority community. The repeal of the Act has led to rise of all kinds of harassment by communal forces, he added.
Castigating a former governor without taking his name, the Maulana said if his report that 14 lakh illegal migrants were crossing over from Bangladesh annually was true then in all these years, Bangladesh should have become empty.
He was, however, all praise for Gogoi, commending that whatever assurance he has given has been fulfilled. �On our suggestion he ordered a halt to police pressure,� he said.
The chief of the prestigious Muslim organisation, said the problem of �D� category voters has two dimensions including a political and administrative. He urged CRPC to take the legal route to resolve the issue. The solution of the problem lay with the Election Commission.
Describing the meeting between a delegation of CRPC with the Election Commission as successful, he said they have been asked to submit at least 20 cases, where genuine citizens have been harassed in the name of �D� category voters.
Maulana said that Jamiat-ulema-e-hind has appointed a panel of advocates at different places in Assam to fight the cases of �D� voters free of cost.