New Delhi: Just a day after the Supreme Court extended the deadline to August 31 for publication of the final Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in the Parliament said that the final NRC is to be published by July 31.
"This shows that the Ministers at the Centre are not aware about updates. It was a Supreme Court decision and everybody is aware of the fact that the final NRC will be published on August 31. The Government is misleading the country," said CPM leader and former MP Hannan Mollah.
Mollah alleged that in the name of NRC, the government is playing with the sentiments of the people. "There should be some scientific lookout on the issue. The court should also look into the matter - how can the minorities be tagged as Rohingyas," Mollah said.
Earlier in the day, Rai made this statement as a response to a query raised by TMC MP Derek O'Brien.
Rai further denied the existence of reports of people committing suicide in Assam due to NRC.
Rai informed the House that the complete draft NRC was published on July 31, 2018 covering 2,89,83,677 number of persons as per the directions of the Supreme Court. A total of 40,70,707 persons were found not eligible for inclusion in the draft NRC. An additional draft exclusion list was published on June 26 this year consisting of 1,02,462 persons, whose names were included in the draft NRC but subsequently found ineligible.
Rai also informed that the process of receipts of claims and objections on draft NRC starting from September 25, 2018 ended on December 31, 2018.
