'NRC is Not a New Exercise', Says CJI Ranjan Gogoi During Mrinal Talukdar's Book Launch

Guwahati, November 3, 2019:

Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, has broken his silence regarding the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC). The CJI, while delivering an address at the book launch of the noted Assam journalist Mrinal Talukdar, opined on the contentious list, which seems to have divided the people of Assam down the middle.

In an attempt to quell the concerns which have arisen after the publication of the final NRC draft, which left over 19 people 'stateless' in Assam, the CJI stated that the NRC is not a "new" or "novel" exercise, but rather, has been undertaken as early as 1951.

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The CJI further asserted that the NRC document is a "base document for the future", and future claims can be determined after consulting the NRC which has been promulgated.

It may be mentioned that Gogoi, who retires on November 17, headed the Special Bench of the apex Court which monitored the NRC process.

The NRC was initially designed to weed out the alleged illegal minorities in the State, but has been met with controversy in recent times.

The Assam Agitation was launched with the sole aim of deporting foreigners, especially Bangaladeshis, and eventually led to the signing of the Assam Accord, meant to safeguard the interests of the indigenous Assamese. Now, after decades long efforts to solve the 'foreigner issue' the Government, under the supervision of the Supreme Court, undertook the NRC procedure, in three phases.

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At the end of the final NRC published on August 31, over nineteen lakh were declared 'stateless', and must now prove that they are indeed citizens of India. However, the final version of the NRC caused a situation of hue-and-cry in the State, with many supposedly indigenous 'sons of the soil' not being included in the draft.

Despite the Home Minister Amit Shah's assurances to deport 'every single last foreigner' during BJP campaign rallies, critics of the NRC claim that there is no mechanism to transport the declared foreigners to Bangladesh, or any other country, for that matter.

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