Assam NRC Drama Heats Up Ahead of August 31 Publication

Guwahati, August 27, 2019:

The publication date of the final draft of the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) marches ever-closer, as the NRC-body, headed by Co-Ordinator Prateek Hajela prepares to release the list on August 31, less than four days from today.

The demand for the NRC started in 1980, ahead of the Assam Agitation of 1985, which had a great impact on the State and culminated in the signing of the highly-controversial 'Assam Accord'.

A long spell of discussions and deliberations followed after the signing of the Assam Accord, and the Government of India and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) presided at the negotiating table for ten long years (1998-2008). Modalities were prepared from 2008-2013, and actual work, under the supervision of the Supreme Court, began in 2013.

While all of this has been going on, Assam has seen 7 Governments, headed by 5 Chief Ministers, and 3 parties rule the State. But no decisive move has been taken regarding the NRC up until now.

However, all has not been fine and dandy in the lead up to the publication, which has already been delayed numerous times. After the July 31 date had to be shifted due to the 're-verification' process, many organizations cried foul, in protest over the NRC authorities' move to summon people from Lower Assam areas to Upper Assam districts.

Things came to such a pass as many as 2,904 people in a few villages of Boko in Assam’s Kamrup district were summoned to Upper Assam districts within a day to prove their citizenship. They had to appear for the hearings in remote Upper Assam districts, almost 500 kms away, within less than 48-hours.

Hojai's MLA Shiladitya Dev, in the meantime, stands at the ready to 'drive out' so-called 'Bangladeshis' who have been named in the NRC in the ensuing months. There will be, no doubt, a rush to the FTs to challenge the non-inclusion of names in the final list (the period of challenging has been extended to 120 days), however, that is a story for another day.

However, despite the alleged discrepancies, Assam -- and the world -- stands at the ready, for the 'definitive document proving citizenship'.

Assam's senior journalist Mrinal Talukdar has also tweeted out the important events in the NRC ahead of its publication.

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