GUWAHATI, Aug 28 - �The Government must come out with a convincing statement on how it is planning to deal the issue of about 40 lakh people whose names would not feature in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC). Moreover, the nodal officer for updating this vital document should be an indigenous person so as to keep him or her free from any pressure whatsoever for �tampering with� the process of updating this document vital for safeguarding the interest of the indigenous peoples of the State, said, Pramod Boro, president of the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU) while addressing a seminar on the �Past, present and future of the NRC�, organised by the nascent Intellectual Forum of North East (IFNE), here on Saturday.
The ABSU president also expressed the fear that this vital document might not be ready within the deadline fixed for the purpose.
Addressing the function, president of the All Assam Tea Tribes Students� Association (AATTSA) Paban Bedia focused on the problems faced by the tea tribe people of the State while getting their names entered in the updated document.
Speaking on the occasion, Abhijit Sarma of the Assam Public Works, alleged that during the past 29 months an amount of around Rs 247 crore meant for the updating of the document was siphoned off by several quarters.
Once the draft NRC is published, those people whose names would not feature in the document would move the Foreigners� Tribunals and then the High Court and even the Supreme Court of India. Thus the entire process to publish the final copy of the NRC is bound to take at least 20 years. As a preemptive measure, the Government should frame a policy to prevent such a development, he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party�s State general secretary Dilip Saikia explained the stand taken by his party. Those Hindus who have come from other countries in the face of persecution would be provided shelter in different parts of the country as per the provisions of the country�s constitution, he said.
Addressing the function, senior advocate and a founder of the United Democratic Front (UDF) Nurul Islam Choudhury warned that if the names of 40 lakh people fails to feature in the updated NRC, it would turn Assam into another Lebanon, where anarchy would prevail. He maintained that Assam was formed in 1912 only and the Muslim people have been working here since the 17 th century.
Countering Choudhury�s argument, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) vice-president and retired IPS officer Dilip Bora asserted that Assam became known by its present name since the rule of king Bhagadatta. Prior to that it was known as Pragjyotishpura or Kamarupa and it was a vast kingdom which had its boundary spread up to Jakarta.
Bora was very much emphatic in his assertion that irrespective of their religious allegiances, those who are found to be foreigners should be deported as per the law of the country.
