Final NRC list: List of exclusion

THE Bharatiya Janata Party has been talking about compiling a countrywide National Register of Citizens, but it speaks in two voices about the final list of the updated NRC in Assam. While the Narendra Modi government has claimed that “the NRC is a fair process based on scientific methods”, the Assam unit of the BJP has rejected the final NRC list, dubbed the NRC exercise as “faulty”, and alleged that the updated register includes names of “illegal Bangladeshi migrants” but excludes genuine citizens. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, while clarifying the Modi government’s official position on the final list, stated: “Exclusion from the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual resident in Assam. They will not be deprived of any rights or entitlements which they have enjoyed before.” However, the ruling BJP’s ally the Asom Gana Parishad, the Congress and other opposition parties, the All Assam Students Union and the Assam Public Works have expressed dissatisfaction over the final NRC list and the alleged exclusion of genuine Indian citizens and inclusion of “illegal Bangladeshis”. The AASU, while saying that it would move the apex court seeking measures for the removal of the discrepancies, defended the Supreme Court-monitored process of updating the NRC and put the blame on the Centre and the Assam government for “failure to discharge duties to ensure a correct NRC free from names of illegal Bangladeshis”.