The Union home ministry is considering a proposal to grant work permits, among other measures, to people living in Assam who do not qualify as citizens of India for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a senior government functionary said.
The proposal, if accepted and implemented, will enable those who are delisted as Indian citizens to continue to live and work in India although they will be deprived of their right to vote. The proposal contradicts statements by some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who have vowed to drive out illegal migrants from Assam.
"No country will accept them. Where can these people be sent away to? Some kind of an alternative will have to work out," the government functionary cited above said on condition of anonymity. A query to the Union home ministry on the work permits proposal went unanswered.
Post the meeting held at Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence in New Delhi, Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal called upon the people, whose names have not been included in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), to file claims and objections to enlist their names in the NRC.
Sonowal said, "The genuine citizens of India whose names have not been included in the draft must file claims and also if they have any doubt over someone whose name have been included in the draft, should also file objections. All the people of Assam, the indigenous bodies should take it up (filing claims and objections) as their moral responsibility."
