GUWAHATI
A forum against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 has asked the Registrar General of India to publish the “final draft” of the updated National Register of Citizens in Assam.
In a letter to the RGI more than a week ago, the Coordination Committee Against CAA said there was no reason to “keep the updated NRC in cold storage” after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The Supreme Court-monitored exercise to update the NRC of 1951 in Assam cost more than ₹1,602 crore. The complete draft of the updated version was published on August 31, 2019, excluding 19.06 lakh out of some 3.3 crore applicants from the list of citizens for failing to submit proper documents.
“…the final draft was submitted to you on August 31, 2019. Unfortunately, the draft was not published, and rejection slips were not issued reportedly because of objections filed in the Supreme Court by certain organisations, including the State government, praying for reverification in certain areas, which were rejected by the SC,” the letter signed by the committee’s chairman Hiren Gohain and chief coordinator Deben Tamuly read.
“The NRC was updated on the basis of a cut-off date of March 25, 1971. The Supreme Court, in its judgement relating to clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, has upheld it. We, therefore, feel that there is no reason for the RGI to keep the updated NRC in cold storage,” it said.
On October 17, the Supreme Court said Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was constitutionally valid. This section grants citizenship to migrants who entered Assam from Bangladesh before March 25, 1971.
The cut-off date was chosen because it marked the beginning of the genocide in East Pakistan, leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
The committee said the publication of the final NRC “will be hailed by all sections of the people, except those politically driven to oppose it”.
The committee also wrote to the Chief Justice of India, thanking the Supreme Court for the judgement on Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act of 1955. While noting the failure of the RGI to take effective steps to finalise the NRC, it said the top court’s verdict would go a long way in resolving long-standing public squabbles in Assam.
