Hindu Jagran Mancha holds protest rally across Assam; demands 'error-free' NRC

Amid reports of higher percentage of so called indigenous population being left out of the NRC, the Hindu Jagran Mancha, an affiliate of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), held protest rallies across Assam demanding the publication of an "error-free" NRC.

Assam:The Hindu Jagran Mancha, an affiliate of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), held protest rallies across Assam on Saturday, demanding the publication of an "error-free" National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Hindu nationalist organisation raised objections to the alleged exclusion of the indigenous Hindu population.

Protests were held across several districts of Assam including Sivasagar, Golaghat, Nalbari, Nagaon, Hojai and Kokrajhar.

"We demand that the names of the indigenous people must be included in the NRC. We demand an error-free NRC from the government and we demand that the indigenous population shoudn't be subjected to any problem, " said one of the protestors.

Another member of the HJM, said, "We are protesting against the exclusion of Hindus from the NRC."

The protest was held in the backdrop of the Assam goverment claiming that the percentage of people excluded from the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) was lower in districts bordering Bangladesh with a sizeable Muslim population, than those where Hindus were in majority.

Assam Accord Implementation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary laid the district-wise list of inclusions, rejections and non-inclusion of applicants’ names in the NRC.

The list showed the total number of applicants was 3,29,91,385 out of which 40,07,717 names (12.15 per cent) were not included. The percentage of excluded names in the districts bordering Bangladesh, such as South Salmara was 7.22, Dhubri 8.26 and Karimganj 7.67. Non-border districts Hojai and Darrang have the highest non-inclusion rate at 32.99 per cent and 30.90 per cent, respectively.

The final NRC is scheduled to be published on August 31.