What Happens to National Register of Citizens in Assam?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was officially launched by the then State coordinator Prateek Hajela in Guwahati in a midnight press meet organised on 31 August 2019.

Addressing the crowded program, Hajela proclaimed the supplementary list of NRC as the final one. Some television media persons were so excited to go on touting Hajela as a superhero. But the reality remains the same, the Assam NRC is yet to be endorsed by the Registrar General of India (RGI). For any reason Hajela had no authority to declare a draft NRC as the ultimate one. Even though the Supreme Court of India, under whose observation the NRC updation was done in Assam, remains silent, many people demand a complete re-verification of the NRC. An affidavit was already submitted by Hajela’s immediate successor Hitesh Devsarma before the apex court.

Former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal publicly stated that he was not satisfied with the NRC and advocated 20 per cent revision in border districts and 10 % in the remaining districts of the State. But neither Sonowal nor his successor Himanta Biswa Sharma made any initiative for the re-verification process. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are however vocal for the revision. However, Assam Public Works (APW), All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Devsarma have filed petitions in the SC for the revision of Assam NRC.

The NRC updating process in Assam merged with a huge financial scam and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report mentioned about the irregularities to the tune of Rs 260 crores. The CAG also advised penal actions against Hajela. Devsarma had already filed two police complaints mentioning about the fraud and corruption committed by Hajela in the NRC updating process. APW president Abhijeet Sharma also filed a complaint against Hajela, but not a single case was registered. Rather Hajela enjoyed VRS facility and currently lives somewhere in his home State of Madhya Pradesh.

Another important aspect is that over 6000 data entry operators (DEOs) worked as temporary employees in the NRC updating process. The system integrator Wipro received an average of Rs 14,500 per month per DEO, but the DEOs were offered only Rs 5,500 each month, which is lower than the basic minimum wage of the country. The NRC supplementary list left only 19 lakhs people who could not prove themselves as Indian citizens. It’s suspected that Hajela used tempered software to include millions of Bangladeshi nationals’ names in the NRC. Some foreign elements are apprehended to be involved in the manipulation.

At least three television journalists were active in depicting the present NRC as a perfect one. They even argued that the people of Assam should accept the NRC as it is (read without any re-verification). One stout and talkative television show-host even published a book on NRC fully praising Hajela for his unmatched works. The other one dedicated a full talk show arguing that the NRC draft must be accepted as the final one. The third one took many opportunities to grab money in pretext of killing news about loopholes of the NRC. Are they going to face the music soon? Maybe if a genuine probe is announced over the NRC scam by the government !

Also Read: Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma: The Protector of Assam in Words, But Not in Deeds