The BJP-led Assam Government has made a history on the intervening night of the New Year by publishing the first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) that includes the names of 1.9 crore people out of total 3.29 crore people of the State.
Registrar General of India, Sailesh made the first draft of the NRC public on the stroke of midnight on December 31 2017 and said that while 1.9 crore names have been included in the first draft, the names of rest of the people are at different stages of verification and that those will be included in the final NRC after proper verification.
The NRC authorities had received 3.29 crore applications accompanied by six crore documents, for inclusion of their names in the NRC. The RGI also announced that the final NRC will be published within the year 2018.
The publication of the draft NRC has created a mixed reaction in the State as many people found their names in the historic document while some others did not found their names in the NRC. There are also reports that while names of some members of one family were included in the NRC, names of some of the members of the same family did not appear in the document.
“It is a positive development that finally the first draft of the NRC was published on Monday. This is a result of Assam movement and the historic Assam Accord. I thank Supreme Court for its consistent monitoring all these months. There are some complaints about non inclusion of names of some genuine citizens in the NRC but I think the final NRC will include the names of all genuine citizens,” said AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya.
Partner of the BJP led ruling alliance in Assam and regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) also expressed their happiness over the publication of the NRC and said that the people of the State must keep a strong vigil till the final NRC is published.
Assam’s Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia, on the other hand, said lamented the fact that the updated draft NRC lacked names of many genuine Indians despite the fact that they had submitted valid documents fort inclusion of their names in the NRC.
“This should not have happened as this is going to dishearten many citizens. Everyone had applied for inclusion of their names in the NRC but did not find their names in the document on Monday. I hope the Government takes urgent steps to correct the same,” he said.