The ongoing dissent over the recently published National Register of Citizens (NRC) in some pockets of Assam has even gripped the festivity of the forthcoming Durga Puja.
The Northeast Linguistic and Ethnic Coordination Committee (NELECC), a conglomeration of the linguistic and ethnic minority organizations in Assam staged a protest in Silchar in Assam’s Barak Valley on Monday comparing State NRC coordinator, Pratik Hajela, as demon Mahishasur.
The NELECC has published poster of mother Goddesses Durga altering the face of Demon Mahishasura with that of Pratik Hajela today, which is Mahalaya, an suspicious day that marks the beginning of Navratri and Durga puja. It is believed that Mother Goddess starts her journey to earth on the day of Mahalaya.
“The NRC is a conspiracy to divide the people of Assam. There are people in the state who have been plotting a conspiracy in the name of NRC and break Assam into pieces,” said one of the members of the NELECC.
“Over 40 lakh peoples’ names were kept out of the draft NRC. They are not foreigners but Indians. After that now the NRC coordinator has convinced the Supreme Court to drop five documents, which could have helped these people ti enroll their names in the NRC. It’s a conspiracy,” he said blaming Hajela.
The organisation also extended their support to the Citizenship Amendment Act 2016 and demanded that the people, who were kept in detention camps in the name of Bangladeshi, should be released immediately.
It may be mentioned here that a total of 40,07,707 people are kept out of the draft NRC due to some discrepancies in their documents.
Following the publication of the draft NRC, the Supreme Court, who has been monitoring the process—has also dropped five documents including refugee registration certificate, copy of 1951 NRC, ration card and others from the list of 15 documents pro prove one’s Indian citizenship, triggering large scale dissent in different parts of the state particularly among the Bengali speaking Muslims and Hindu.