Guwahati: The Congress on Wednesday asked the coordinator for National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam, Prateek Hajela to clarify on what basis he told the Supreme Court that 17.4 lakh people were categorised as original inhabitants.
Hajela had told the court on October 12 that of the 48 lakh people whose panchayat certificates were rejected by Gauhati High Court for NRC enrolment, 17.4 lakh had been identified as original inhabitants while the rest were under examination.
"We want to know what the parameters were to identify the 17.4 lakh people as original inhabitants," former chief minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters here.
The Congress legislators held a meeting on the issue at Koinadhara guesthouse which was attended by PCC president Ripun Bora and former cabinet minister Pradyut Bordoloi, among others.
Advocates in the Supreme Court had also asked Hajela to clear the criteria and definition to identify the original inhabitants on the basis of which they had prepared the report. The judges noted the arguments and fixed November 15 for the next hearing on the case.
Gauhati High Court on February 28 had rejected panchayat certificates for NRC enrolment, which had affected about 48 lakh people of Assam, especially women.
The Supreme Court had asked the Assam government to publish the draft NRC by December 31. Altogether 68 lakh families have submitted forms with 6.5 crore documents to include their names in the updated NRC.
Gogoi today said those whose names were included in the voter list of 2014 were incorporated on the basis of 1966 rolls.
Therefore, the voters of 2014 should be automatically included in the NRC, he said.
PCC general secretary Bobbeeta Sarmah told The Telegraph, "The stand of the Congress is clear like the All Assam Students' Union that whoever came to India on or after March 24, 1971, should be declared foreigners irrespective of whether they are Hindus or Muslims."
Gogoi said it was the Congress which had sought for preparation of the NRC to permanently solve the vexed foreigners problem of the state.
