New Delhi: Hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday told in the Parliament that his government will start National Register of Citizen (NRC) across India including Assam, Congress has vehemently opposed the move.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora said, "We will oppose re-implementation of NRC in Assam."
He said that August 31 final NRC in Assam was a special case and "same thing can't happen in a state which has faced the brunt of illegal foreigners."
"After a long 14 years of exercise NRC was implemented and published in Assam which cost the exchequer an amount of Rs 1600 crore with more than 55000 officials engaged with the NRC publication process, " said Bora.
He, however, said that the cut date for illegal foreigners in Assam was 25th March, 1971 and government should not consider the same timeline for carrying out all India level NRC to detect illegal foreigners.
On August 31, the government has published the final NRC list in Assam excluding more than 19 lakhs people. "The government should now find out the genuine Indians who have been excluded from the final NRC lists and include their names in the same lists," said Bora.
In fact, NRC in Assam was carried implementing one of the clauses of the historic Assam Accord. The accord was signed in 1985 between government of India, Assam Government and All Assam Students Union (AASU) ending years-long Assam agitation.
The final NRC list was published under the monitoring of the Supreme Court. However, Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in the Rajya Sabha is likely to generate more sharp reactions from across India.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already declared that her government will not carry NRC in The state. Mamata even accused the Narendra Modi Government of playing 'religious politics' in the name of NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
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