NRC Should Be Reviewed And Conducted Once Again: Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should reviewed and conducted once again.

Speaking to reporters in Guwahati, CM Sarma said, "We had said earlier also that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be reviewed and done afresh. Our discussion with the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) is going on.”

Last week, Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora had said that the state government will move Supreme Court seeking re-verification of the NRC.

The updated list of citizens was published in August 2019.

"The decision was taken during the meeting held with the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and other indigenous organizations. We won't accept the list of NRC which was published in August 2019. Now we have decided to move the Supreme Court by seeking re-verification,” he said.

A meeting was also held between the Assam government and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) leadership on the Assam Accord.

NRC is a register containing names of Indian citizens, which was prepared for the only time in 1951. It is being updated for Assam as of now to weed out illegal immigrants.

The first list of NRC was first published in Assam in 1951. When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it.

The draft NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications. The updated list of citizens was published in August 2019 which had excluded 19.06 lakh, people, out of 3.3 crore applicants.

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