MHA steps in to scotch NRC rumours, focuses on appeals

GUWAHATI: Two days before the publication of the NRC, the Union home ministry on Thursday stepped in to counter rumours regarding the updation exercise.

In a tweet, the spokesperson for the ministry of home affairs said, "Do not believe rumours about NRC. Non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC does NOT amount to his/her being declared a foreigner. Every individual left out from final NRC can appeal to Foreigners Tribunals, an increased number of which are being established."

The tweet comes in the wake of rumours surrounding the NRC being spread on social media. Last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had, in a veiled reference to the issue, tweeted, "Already 4m Indian Muslims face detention camps & cancellation of citizenship. World must take note as this genie is out of the bottle & the doctrine of hate & genocide, with RSS goons on the rampage, will spread unless the international community acts now to stop it."

Back home, the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state have expressed concerns over the register not being error-free, leading to genuine Indians being left out and foreigners getting included.

The state government has even criticised the NRC exercise on the floor of the Assembly, saying it had made repeated pleas in the Supreme Court for re-verification of data in the districts bordering Bangladesh, but they have not been accepted.

Fearing exclusion of Hindus, many organisations close to the Sangh Parivar have also stepped up their campaign against the publication of the citizenship rolls until they are properly verified and made error-free.

Last week, hundreds of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists held a demonstration outside the office of the NRC coordinator here, demanding 're-verification' of each and every NRC application across Assam before the list is published.

The NRC was created in 1951 to identify nationals and non-nationals - particularly from Bangladesh - irrespective of their religious identities and is being updated since 2015.

More than 40 lakh people from various communities had not found a place in the draft NRC released in July last year. Recently, another lakh, who had been included in the draft NRC, were dropped after re-verification of their documents. In both cases, those excluded were given a chance to file claims for inclusion in the NRC again.


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