With Assam NRC, the truth is also out – it was a pointless exercise all along – By Ruhi Tewari
After much hype, confusion, politics and processes, the updated list of Assam’s National Register of Citizens – NRC – is finally out. Around 19 lakh people have been excluded. Considering 3.29 crore people applied in the first place, less than 6 per cent have been found not to be ‘genuine’ Indian citizens.
Incidentally, this figure is far less than what the leaders of the 1979 Assam Agitation would have anticipated, which is why they agitated in the first place and succeeded in getting the Rajiv Gandhi government to agree to update the 1951 NRC as part of the 1985 Assam Accord. And this is precisely why this exercise has been a complete waste – redundant in the current context and late by at least three decades. This figure, in fact, knocks the bottom off the original Assam movement. It indicates how the entire talk of demographic imbalance was more a fallacy than fact.
Essentially, the NRC exercise has achieved little – except to create panic in a state, cause unnecessary confusion and discomfort to Assam residents, give India a bad name, eat into the Supreme Court’s precious time, cost over Rs 1,100 crore and waste human resources to the tune of more than 62,000 workers and most dangerously, give the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party a potent tool to further its Hindutva politics, thus polarising the state.…
SEE ALSO:
- ‘They Mixed Up Muslims of Assam and Bangladesh’: Petitioner Looks Back at Decade-long NRC Exercise – Abhijit Sharma with Aditya Sharma (Aug 31, 2019, News18)
https://www.news18.com/news/india/nrc-mixed-up-muslims-of-bangladesh-assam-petitioner-looks-back-at-decade-long-citizenship-exercise-in-assam-2266159.html - Children out, parents in: The real challenge begins now that final Assam NRC is here – By Aman Wadud (Aug 31, 2019, The Print)
https://theprint.in/opinion/children-out-parents-in-the-real-challenge-begins-now-that-final-assam-nrc-is-here/284862/ - Why NRC in Assam May Create Another Kashmir – By Ajaz Ashraf (Sep 1, 2019, News Click)
https://www.newsclick.in/NRC-Assam-May-Create-Another-Kashmir - Assam Needs ‘Correct’ NRC, Not One ‘Corrected’ to Suit the Political Design – By Harekrishna Deka (Aug 31, 2019, News18)
https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/opinion-assam-needs-correct-nrc-not-one-corrected-to-suit-the-political-design-2291545.html
