GUWAHATI, July 1 � The Congress party is confident of gaining support from various sections of voters following Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi�s call for inclusion of all persons whose names appeared in the electoral rolls into the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
�By raising the issue of citizenship to Hindus who migrated from the erstwhile East Pakistan, the BJP assumed it would sweep the vote of all Bengali Hindus. Gogoi�s decision to send a letter to the Centre to take steps for inclusion of all persons whose names appeared in the electoral rolls into the NRC will reiterate our commitment for them and we will be able to gain support among Bengali Hindu voters in the 2016 Assembly polls. Similar is the case with other communities,� an Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) leader told The Assam Tribune.
He said the party has to ensure that it does not lose the support of indigenous communities, tea tribes, Bengali Hindus and minorities.
Senior APCC sources said that BJP has already made significant gains among tea tribes, scheduled tribes and upper castes voters. With the Congress� support base among minorities also under erosion due to rise of the AIUDF, the party feels that any resentment among the majority community, including tea garden workers, will mean virtual decimation of the grand old party.
�You go to any tribal village or any tea garden or any rural area. Many people do not have legacy data or other documents. Among the tea tribes, only those born after 1980 have got some form of identity documents. Similar is the case with Bengali Hindus from erstwhile East Pakistan. So we need to give a message to them that the ruling party and the State Government are with them,� the leader said.
APCC leaders said that many people in rural areas and tea gardens do not have documents which are required to be submitted along with the NRC forms.
�In such a scenario, even if 100 or 200 people are deprived of their names in the updated NRC, it will spread such a blaze across the State that we will end up losing all support. Already the BJP has intensified a surreptitious campaign stating that Congress is determined to deprive the locals of their rights,� said the party office-bearer.
Gogoi is likely to leave for New Delhi in the first week of July to hand over a letter to the Registrar General of India (RGI) on the issue.
�If the RGI does not act, the State Government may move the Supreme Court asking for inclusion of the 2014 Voters� List as an Additional Supplementary Document for NRC updation,� he said.
