GUWAHATI, July 7 - Alleging that vested interest circles were working overtime to put hurdles in the implementation of the Supreme Court-mandated and-monitored NRC update exercise, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today said that those circles were using the �humanitarian� pretext to safeguard the illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in Assam.
In a statement, the AASU said that such circles had also moved the Supreme Court pleading for conditional release of declared illegal foreigners, besides trying to prevent the Chief Justice of India from hearing a case pertaining to detention camps.
�The decision of updating the NRC on the basis of the Assam Accord was endorsed and monitored by the Supreme Court. It is precisely due to the constant monitoring of the apex court that the NRC work is nearing completion despite hitting many roadblocks caused by vested interest circles,� AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said.
Pointing out that the issue of large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh was having disturbing socio-political implications for the local people of Assam, the AASU said that the historic Assam Movement was an attempt at securing the legitimate rights of the Assamese people but �despite the movement culminating in the Assam Accord of 1985 little was done by successive governments at the Centre to resolve the issue of Bangladeshi migrants even as it pushed the Assamese to an existential crisis.�
The Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court, the AASU added, have consistently been reprimanding the governments over their inertia on the issue of infiltration which the courts said was akin to a silent invasion into the country.
�It is the Assamese people whose human rights are being violated over the years due to cross-border infiltration from Bangladesh. Those who are defending illegal migrants on humanitarian grounds would do well to ponder over this,� the AASU said.
