Picture by Manash Das
Guwahati: Pro-talks Ulfa leader Anup Chetia and Prabajan Virodhi Manch leader Upamanyu Hazarika have voiced doubts on whether the update of the National Register of Citizens will help safeguard the interests of the indigenous people of Assam after alleged inclusion of names of illegal migrants in the final draft has come to light.
Addressing the media separately here on Monday, they also expressed concern over exclusion of many indigenous people from the draft register.
"Before publication of the draft we were hopeful that the NRC would solve the vexed foreigners' problem in Assam. But now we are seeing that names of foreigners were included in the draft while people from the indigenous communities have been left out. It has created doubts in our minds on how fruitful the exercise will be," Chetia said.
He said while many indigenous people lack documents to prove their citizenship, the illegal migrants have managed to procure such documents through fraud.
The Ulfa general secretary demanded that the names of foreigners be removed from the draft as an error-free NRC is essential for the existence of the indigenous people of Assam.
Echoing Chetia, Hazarika said, "The figure thrown up by the draft NRC is far short of the official estimate of illegal migrant population in the state. Even the present 40 lakh figure is likely to reduce considerably after the disposal of claims and objections."
The names of over 40 lakh applicants did not figure in the final draft of the NRC published on July 30. The final draft contained 2.89 crore names of 3.29 crore applicants.
The Prabajan Virodhi Manch convenor recalled that the then Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal had made a statement in Parliament on July 14, 2004, that there were 50 lakh infiltrators in Assam as on December 31, 2001.
"Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, on November 16, 2016, gave a figure of 80 lakh infiltrators in Parliament. The 40 lakh figure has drastically fallen short of the estimated number," he said. "It is important that the sacrifices of lakhs of people during the Assam Movement, including the 855 martyrs, is not rendered meaningless," he said.