Assam: 80% of Boko Villagers Summoned 500 Kms Away for NRC 'Re-Verification' Excluded from List

Boko, August 31, 2019:

The people of Boko in Kamrup district of Assam, who were summoned to Upper Assam in a day's notice for NRC re-verification, have seen their efforts go in vain, as most of them have been excluded from the final draft anyway.

Rahmotullah, a local resident of Sontoli village, told mediapersons, "although only 1-2 persons per family have been included in the NRC draft, we are trying to keep the peace. Yet, we feel that we have been badly harassed in the name of NRC. However, our patience is running out. We want a foreigner-free NRC, but we do not want harassment. I have checked online, 80% names of minorities are showing up as 'rejected'..."

Omar Ali, another resident of the village, echoed a similar sentiment. "In our circle, there were 25,000 people, out of which 10,000 have been excluded. We do not understand how this could be, as all of us had the required documents.."

He further added that many people were harassed in the name of 're-verification. "Yet, around 50% of the minority people living here find themselves in the 'rejected' list...", Ali lamented.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the NRC, Chaygaon MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed said that the NRC is a "transparent" draft to ascertain the indigenous citizens of Assam, and lauded the efforts of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) in making this happen.

It may be mentioned here that as many as 2,900 poor people from different villages in Boko assembly constituency of Kamrup district were sent notices in the evening of August 3 from the NRC (National Register of Citizens), summoning them to far off places.  And the time given to them to appear at the Seva Kendra was 2 days.

And since the notice was too short, the poor villagers, not having enough money to travel so far, had to sell off their livestock, mortgage their ancestral lands and the women had to part with their jewellery.   Many had to spend their hard-earned money by working as daily wage labourers.

It may be mentioned here that over nineteen lakh people have been excluded from the final draft NRC, which was published earlier today.

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