Guwahati: Even as the NRC final list was published today, senior journalist Rajeev Bhattacharya said every political party wanted to create vote-bank among the migrant community and that is why the NRC issue was never addressed directly.
Bhattacharya said that a combination of various factors has contributed to the amplification of the NRC issue in Assam.
When asked if the NRC issue has been a part of bigger political gameplay, Bhattacharya replied, "There is no bigger political gameplay involved as the only intention for the political parties was to win the elections."
"Every political party wanted to create vote-bank among the migrant community and that's why this issue was never addressed directly," added the senior journalist.
According to him, the government of Assam for the longest time lacked the political will and failed to rise above the party considerations. There were very few chief ministers of Assam who wanted to address the issue head-on and the process began from Gopinath Bardoloi, who wanted to end the problem and come up with a set of stringent preventive measures to check 'foreign infiltration'.
"For the past two years, national and international media have been discrediting the NRC and alleging that NRC will be targeting the minor community. Nobody is denying the fact that NRC is error free and the government has made it clear that the NRC doesn't have the authority to declare anybody a 'foreigner'," said Bhattacharya.
"It is the court and tribunal who will actually give their judgment whether a person is a 'foreigner' or not and that's why the government has also extended the time of appeal from 60 days to 120 days," he added.
As the much-awaited National Register of Citizens (NRC) was released on Saturday morning, the outcome evoked mixed views from the people and politicians alike. The final NRC was released on Saturday leaving out over 19 lakh applicants.
Also read: NRC final list released: Who said what
