Silchar, March 21: The Barak Upothakya Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan has resolved to initiate legal procedures to address the complexities associated with NRC update, slated to start in April.
The decision to move the Supreme Court was taken at the three-day 26th biennial conference of the Sammelan that got under way at Banga Bhawan here last evening. The Sammelan's new committee will soon meet legal practitioners to pursue the matter.
The Sammelan rejected the definition of "Assamese" offered by the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and 25 other organisations representing the indigenous communities of Assam and expressed concern over making 1951 NRC as the base for NRC update in 2015, saying it would be "completely unjust".
The Sammelan's general secretary Gautam Prasad Dutta said many people were not aware in 1951 that they needed to including their names in the National Register of Citizens. In many places of Assam, the 1951 NRC could not be updated because of geographical constraints and other problems.
"If 1951 is made the base year, a huge number of bonafide citizens of Assam will face difficulty in getting enlisted in the NRC. The records of 1951 NRC is also not available in many districts of Assam," he said.
Dutta said the linguistic minorities who have been living in Assam for decades were facing problems in submitting documents listed in the NRC update procedure. "Many had never thought of keeping such documents and now they are in trouble. If the linguistic minority people are harassed and victimised despite being bona fide citizens of the country, they might think of an alternative way to fight back." He said to make Assam a developed state, equal rights and respect must be given to the people of every community.
The conference was inaugurated by Calcutta-based writer Bani Basu. She said every regional language was facing a threat today, adding that only one language and culture should not be given sole importance in a country where there are numerous languages, dialects and cultures.
The Sammelan's Cachar district committee president, Taimur Raja Choudhury, spoke on the history of Bengali literature in Barak Valley.
