Silchar: The Barak Upotyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan on Thursday expressed apprehension that lakhs of genuine Bengali citizens would be left out of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC).

S. Deblaskar, a member of the Barak Valley-based socio-cultural-literary organisation which was established in 1977, told reporters here that state NRC co-ordinator Prateek Hajela had issued two circulars on May 1 and 2, which mentioned changes in NRC modalities and aimed at more stringent verification of documents.

He alleged that these circulars, addressed to the district registrar of citizen registration and the deputy commissioners of all districts, appeared to be an attempt to snatch the citizenship of a particular section of people.

"A big threat is looming over Bengalis of the state," he added.

Deblaskar said they would move the Supreme Court over the matter and finalise the date in a meeting on Monday.

Copies of the circulars are available with The Telegraph.

Another member, Imad Uddin Bulbul, said the circular says documents like affidavits and gaon panchayat certificates would not be "legally admissible" for inclusion of a person's name in the updated NRC and that family members of those declared "foreigners" would also be regarded as foreigners. This, he said, was "unjustified".

"Many people, especially those belonging to the economically backward section of society, only have gaon panchayat certificates, which are completely legal as these are issued after proper verification," he said, criticising Hajela over the circulars.

He said these certificates were permissible according to the previous modalities and added that the "unexpected" changes made by Hajela through the circulars were giving the impression that it was an attempt to ostracise a section of the people in the state. He said many people have been declared foreigners because of lack of documents but how can their family members be similarly categorised?

Taimur Raja Choudhury, the organisation's president, said it appeared that the NRC was being updated to exclude citizens rather than include them.

Silchar legislator Dilip Kumar Paul told The Telegraph over phone that the NRC update process was under the Supreme Court's supervision and it would be dealt as per law.

He said those who came to this country because of religious persecution would definitely be given citizenship. The BJP has always maintained a clear stand on this and it will continue to do so, he added.