Centre deliberately trying to delay NRC: Ripun Bora

Ripun Bora, the president of APCC, has accused the Central government of allegedly delaying the final publication of NRC in Assam. He said that the government is harassing genuine Indians in the name of NRC.

New Delhi: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora on Thursday accused that the central government is deliberately trying to delay the final publication of National Register of Citizen (NRC) in the state.

"Government of India, as well as the Assam government, are deliberately trying to delay the publication of NRC. The Supreme Court had given the July 31 deadline for final publication a year back, what was the government doing in last one year," said Bora who is also the Rajya Sabha member.

Bora was referring to the fresh petition filed by the Centre and State Government in the SC seeking time for verification of 20 per cent names published in the draft NRC, published earlier.

He also accused that in the name of NRC, genuine Indians are being harassed.

Referring to the announcement made by Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the similar process of identifying the illegal immigrants from across India, Bora said: "the Government (Centre) is not at all clear about its intention."

"In a reply on NRC issue earlier in the Parliament, Junior Home Minister said that no such NRC is in view for other states, and the Home Minister is talking different!" said Bora.

He went on to say that, "On June 10, Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai has told in the Upper House that NRC is being implemented at present in the state of Assam only as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the provisions contained in the Schedule framed under Rule 4A (4) of Citizenship Rules, 2003."