File picture of a group of illegal migrants detained in Dibrugarh. Updating the NRC will help detect such migrants

Guwahati, Jan. 21: The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has decided to take on the Centre over the latter’s move to change a key criterion for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

The AIUDF is cut up with Delhi for amending Clause 4 (A) of Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, by inviting claims from direct descendants of those whose names figured in the NRC of 1951 or in the electoral rolls “prior to” 1971.

The Centre has inserted a clause that would make only those whose names figure in the electoral rolls prior to 1971 eligible for inclusion in the NRC instead of the suggestion of the Assam government that it should be up to 1971.

The Assam government, however, had in its modalities to the Centre had mooted either the 1951 NRC or the 1971 electoral rolls as the basis for updating the NRC.

Though Dispur had moved the Centre on December 14, pointing the substitution of “up to 1971” with “prior to 1971”, Delhi has not yet responded, leaving minority groups in the state fuming over the “unilateral” decision.

A tripartite meeting involving Dispur, Centre and AASU on May 5, 2005 had decided that for updating the NRC, copies of the 1951 NRC wherever available, and the 1971 electoral rolls, where NRC copies were not available, be used as the basic documents.

The Assam Accord had also set March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for determination of illegal migrants.

H.R.A. Choudhury, the working president of the AIUDF, said the amendment only reflected the intention of the Centre to keep the foreigners’ issue alive.

“We had supported update of the NRC based on the 1971 voters’ list. Then why this unilateral change in criteria? It smacks of a bigger conspiracy against the religious and linguistic minorities. But we will not remain silent, we will mobilise opinion against the change,” he said.

Towards this end, the AIUDF would be convening a meeting of religious and linguistic minorities followed by a meet involving leading organisations like the AASU and Asam Sahitya Sabha. Subsequently, a delegation will go to New Delhi to protest the move.

The date of the meetings will be finalised once the AIUDF’s legal cell completes examining the pros and cons of the move this week.

Choudhury, however, said party leaders have started building opinions and creating awareness in the 13 minority-concentrated districts in the state since December 23.

“It will also figure in a party workers’ meet to be held at Hojai on January 23 involving members from Kamrup, Darrang, Sonitpur, Morigaon and Nagaon. The meet will exhort our members on how to prepare the party for the 2011 elections as well as expose the government’s anti-people policies. Similar meets will also be held in Barak valley,” he added.