"Send me to Bangladesh, will be happy": Ex-Assam Minister

Guwahati, May 17, 2019:

Former Assam Minister Gautam Roy has been served a notice regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Speaking to Inside Northeast, Roy said that he received a notice from the authorities saying that a notice had been served for his grandson. "My son Rahul has two wives..the child of his older wife has been served a notice. They asked me whether he really is my grandson. He is a young boy, merely 18 years of age", he said.

Roy further expressed his dissatisfaction with the whole NRC process and seems flabbergasted that genuine citizens are being harassed in the name of NRC. "Send me to Bangladesh if you doubt that I am a genuine citizen of India. I will live there comfortably", he says.

It may be mentioned that there are a lot of allegations regarding discrepancies in the NRC process, with many organizations alleging that minorities are being unduly harassed in the name of disposing Objections.

Bengali organizations have also alleged that a conspiracy is afoot to deprive those speaking the Bengali tongue from receiving citizenship status.

As a result, there is much debate and discussion ahead of the publication of final NRC draft, which has been directed to be released by the Supreme Court on July 31.

It may be mentioned that The purpose of NRC update is to weed out illegal migrants residing in Assam who entered Indian territories after midnight on 24 March 1971 and to determine the citizenship of the applicants who have applied for inclusion of their names in the updated NRC.

The NRC is updated as per the provisions The Citizenship Act, 1955 and The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 (As amended by 1. G. S. R. 803(E), dated 9 November 2009 (with effect from 9/11/2009.), Ministry of Home Affairs (Office of Registrar General, India), Order No. S.O. 596(E), dated 15 March 2010, published in the Gazette of India, Extra, Part II. No. 504 S.3(ii), dated 16 March 2010 p. 1.).

As per the two statutes, the eligibility status would be ascertained based on the NRC, 1951, Electoral Rolls up to 1971 and in their absence the admissible documents up to 24 March (midnight) 1971.